Berwyn, Pa. – March 8, 2007 – LAWFUEL – Law Firm News – Law Jobs – Pepper Hamilton LLP announced that Mark DeLuca and Paul K. Legaard, respected patent and intellectual property attorneys, have joined the firm’s Intellectual Property Practice Group as partners in the Berwyn office. Joining Pepper with them are four other lawyers, a patent agent and four paralegals.
“Mark, Paul and their group of IP professionals are a welcome addition to our intellectual property practice and to the firm,” said William A. Scari, Jr., the partner in charge of Pepper’s Berwyn office. “They are highly respected practitioners, and their collective knowledge will augment our existing practices with life sciences and pharmaceutical companies. We’re extremely excited and pleased that they have chosen to join Pepper.”
The group joined Pepper from Cozen O’Connor in Philadelphia, where Mr. DeLuca was co-chair of that firm’s intellectual property practice, and where Mr. DeLuca and Mr. Legaard had practiced since 2002. Before that, they had practiced at Woodcock Washburn LLP, a Philadelphia patent boutique.
Mr. DeLuca and Mr. Legaard focus their practices in the pharmaceutical and bioscience industries. Both have undergraduate degrees in biology, and Mr. Legaard has a doctorate degree in molecular microbiology and immunology.
“Joining Pepper is a very positive move for our group,” said Mr. DeLuca. “We’re looking forward to expanding our patent litigation capabilities and exploring areas such as life sciences, private equity and health effects litigation that our clients may wish to utilize.”
“The Berwyn office offers us a unique opportunity to grow our practice in a variety of areas,” added Mr. Legaard. “Pepper’s reputation in the life sciences arena is highly valuable, and we hope to help expand not only that practice, but also the focus of the firm’s intellectual property practice as a whole.”
Others joining Pepper with Mr. DeLuca and Mr. Legaard are: registered patent attorneys Michael A. Patané and Susanne H. Goodson, Ph.D.; associates Nikhil A. Heble, Pharm.D., and John A. Zurawski; registered patent agent Feng Shao; and paralegals Catherine T. Hill, Janet S. Jiulianti, Lisa Machado and Lori Roman. Four are working in the Berwyn office with Mr. DeLuca and Mr. Legaard; the other five are working in Pepper’s Philadelphia office.
Mr. DeLuca focuses his practice in all areas of intellectual property, including patent procurement, infringement and validity studies, licensing and intellectual property management. He counsels large pharmaceutical companies, biotechnology companies, universities and nonprofit institutions in the areas of patent protection, the development of global patent strategies, technology transfer matters, and intellectual property portfolio management and analysis. He also counsels software and other technology companies in the area of standards licensing.
Mr. DeLuca’s technological experience is in the areas of molecular biology, peptide chemistry, immunology, vaccine technologies, diagnostics, genomics, proteomics, and rational drug discovery through the use of biochemistry and molecular biology. Earlier in his career, he was a patent attorney for a large pharmaceutical company.
Mr. DeLuca is an active member of several national, state and local bar associations, including the American Intellectual Property Association, where he serves on the Biotechnology Practice, Patent Law and Law Firm Management committees.
Mr. DeLuca received his undergraduate degree in biological sciences from the State University of New York at Stony Brook (B.S. 1982) and his law degree from Franklin Pierce Law Center (J.D. 1988). He is admitted to practice in Pennsylvania and before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.
Mr. Legaard is a patent attorney who handles all aspects of intellectual property, including patent procurement, infringement and validity studies, and due diligence. He concentrates particularly in the areas of biotechnology, vaccines, organic chemistry, molecular biology, bioinformatics, immunology, pharmaceuticals, medicine, genomics, nucleic acids, biomedical devices, optical waveguides and polymer physics.
Mr. Legaard received his undergraduate degree in biology from Gustavus Adolphus College (St. Peter, Minn.) (B.A. 1986). He completed a chemistry program at the University of Wisconsin in River Falls, and received his doctoral training in the Department of Molecular Microbiology and Immunology at the University of Missouri-Columbia (Ph.D. 1991). He completed post-doctoral training at the Harry S. Truman Memorial Veterans’ Hospital (Columbia, Mo.) and the University of Pennsylvania. Mr. Legaard received his J.D. in 1997 from Temple University Beasley School of Law. He is admitted to practice in Pennsylvania and before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.
About Pepper Hamilton
Pepper Hamilton LLP (www.pepperlaw.com) is a multi-practice law firm with 450 lawyers in seven states and the District of Columbia. The firm provides corporate, litigation and regulatory legal services to leading businesses, governmental entities, nonprofit organizations and individuals throughout the nation and the world. The firm was founded in 1890.
Pepper’s Berwyn office is located in the high-technology corridor west of Philadelphia. Its services include corporate, securities, mergers and acquisitions, venture capital, general commercial, intellectual property and patent, labor and employment, litigation, real estate, tax, and trusts and estates matters, as well as international transactions. Opened in 1984 to serve entrepreneurial businesses that were developing in the Route 202 corridor, the Berwyn office now has 45 lawyers who work with clients around the world.
Pepper’s Intellectual Property Practice Group is an interdisciplinary team that procures intellectual property rights, and litigates or otherwise resolves intellectual property problems. The firm’s lawyers are capable and experienced in all intellectual property areas, including patents, copyrights, trademarks, trade secret protection, unfair competition, false advertising, and defamation, publicity and privacy issues. Pepper also handles technology-related transactions and litigation, domestic and international technology transfer, author/publisher relations and U.S. government proprietary rights regulation.
