Patent and Intellectual Property

Biotechnology and pharmaceutical patents

I draft and prosecute patent applications covering biologics, cell and gene therapy, nucleic acid therapeutics, vaccines, small molecules and drug formulations, and I advise on the questions that come before and after prosecution — patentability, freedom to operate, invalidity, portfolio diligence and inter partes review.

I have filed over 200 patent applications and prosecuted several hundred patent families worldwide. I have led patent due diligence on transactions valued in the hundreds of millions of dollars, and I have supported IPRs and litigation for marketed products.

I also work with Chinese companies seeking patent protection in the United States, and with U.S. companies working with Chinese partners.

Immigration

Family, employment and investment immigration

I represent individuals, families and employers before USCIS in family-based petitions, employment-based visas including EB-1, EB-2, EB-3 and H-1B, EB-5 investment matters, and naturalization.

The office works in Mandarin, with capability in Japanese and Korean.

Biography

Why a scientist ended up doing this

I trained as a biochemist — a bachelor's from the University of Maryland and a master's from the University of Southern California — before law school at UC Hastings. That background is the practice. Claim scope in an antibody case turns on what the specification actually taught a skilled artisan about the antigen, and that is a technical judgment before it is a legal one.

The same instinct applies on the immigration side. Most petitions are won or lost on how carefully the record is built, not on argument.

Contact

Start a conversation

Initial consultations are by appointment. Tell me briefly what you are working on and I will tell you whether I am the right person for it.