Shawn Foley, a partner in the firm, focuses in the area of biotechnology and represents a wide spectrum of clients, including major pharmaceutical and other Fortune 500 companies, medium-sized and generic drug companies, start-ups, universities and not-for-profit organizations, both in the U.S. and abroad.

With Lerner David, Mr. Foley has gained expertise in creating patent estates for commercial products, conducting due diligence reviews, and rendering opinions, all in the fields of biotechnology and pharmaceuticals, and cosmetics. His career began as an examiner with the United States Patent and Trademark Office, where he reviewed patent applications during the pioneering era of biotechnology. He also earned valuable corporate experience in the agricultural biotechnology research division of Ciba-Geigy (now Syngenta Seeds), where he worked closely with management and helped to obtain patent rights relating to transgenic crops.

Mr. Foley has presented lectures to patent bar associations and to corporate and university audiences regarding various aspects of the law, and is the author of “Nonobviousness” (The Law and Strategy of Biotechnology Patents, Butterworth-Heinemann, 1994). He regularly attends U.S. Patent and Trademark Office-sponsored meetings to keep abreast of its interpretation in federal court proceedings and changes in patent application examination policy.