Orrick acquires strong life-sciences focused IP litigation team

Orrick acquires strong life-sciences focused IP litigation team

Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe, one of the top 35 law firms in the United States, has added four IP litigation partners with expertise in the bio sciences from the California Company Milbank.

David Gindler, who previously oversaw Milbank's IP litigation and licencing department, along with Gary Fischling, Lauren Drake, and John Lu, form a team widely regarded for its success in defending the discoveries of big biotech businesses in complicated patent challenges. While the remainder of the team will be headquartered in Orrick's Los Angeles office, new hire Frischling will be working out of the Santa Monica branch.

According to Clem Roberts, head of Orrick's intellectual property (IP) business section, "Life sciences was the missing component in our IP litigation portfolio." Our intellectual property practice is booming, and we are confident that we have acquired the greatest team in the industry to join us.

The team worked together for several years at Los Angeles litigation firm Irell & Manella, where Gindler held the position of managing partner and Frischling held the position of co-leader of the IP practice, before joining Milbank in 2019.

With a focus on high-stakes patent and trade secret trials, Gindler brings decades of expertise as a trial lawyer to the table. He has obtained a $302 million verdict for breach of a research and licence agreement and defeated a $217 million damages claim where responsibility had already been proven in a previous trial handled by a different firm, earning him a Band 2 ranking by Chambers in the life sciences: IP/patent litigation field.

Frishcling has won patent battles for corporations including Gilead, Ferring Pharmaceuticals, and St. Jude Medical thanks to his considerable experience advising clients on safeguarding discoveries in innovative pharmaceuticals and drug delivery systems, medical devices, and biotherapies.

Meanwhile, Drake has successfully represented clients in patent disputes before the Patent Trial and Appeal Board and in federal courts. His clients work in the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries. Lu completes the group by concentrating on IP lawsuits involving Chinese firms, trade secret theft, and other IP-related issues. Genentech, Gilead, Rosenberger Asia Pacific, and Tris are just some of his most notable clients.

"We established an aim in 2019 to develop a top-tier practice serving the life sciences sector, a key component of the economy," stated Mitch Zuklie, chair of Orrick. "Our foundation was solid yet limited when we first started. In part due to Boston's significance to the life sciences industry, we opened an office there. We've been very pleased with the caliber of new attorneys we've been able to recruit since then, and our IP litigation group fills a critical gap in our all-encompassing service by bringing to bear talent that is unparalleled in the industry.

Advisory services are provided to more than 500 firms in the life sciences industry, according to Orrick, which has recruited 22 partners to its platform since 2019. These partners work in transactional, litigation, and regulatory domains.

At the same time, Sonos, Oracle, and Micron have all relied on Orrick's intellectual property litigation practice, and the firm's appellate team has secured victories in life sciences issues for Gilead, Kite Pharma, and Johnson & Johnson.

"Everything about Orrick resonates for our team in terms of our goal for our practice — the quality of the IP litigation platform, the integrated approach to serving life sciences clients, and the record of innovation," Gindler said. The prospect of joining the team excites us."

Following Bill Oxley's June return to Orrick from Baker & Hostetler in Los Angeles, where he had previously served as first chair trial lawyer, and Meghan Kelly's June move from Baker & Hostetler to Orrick in New York, where she had previously served as a commercial litigator, we now have four new attorneys.