Kilpatrick Townsend & Stockton announced today that it is bringing aboard a national life sciences patent litigation team to further enhance their internationally recognized Intellectual Property Department. April Abele Isaacson, M.S. is joining as a partner in San Francisco, Abby Markeson as counsel in Seattle, and in New York, Brian David O’Reilly and Michael Enzo Furrow, Ph.D. are joining as partners and Erica W. Kuo, M.S. as counsel. All will be members of the Patent Litigation Team, focusing on life sciences litigation and related strategic counseling. The team has broad experience across the biopharma patent service areas and close interconnections running back many years. April, Brian, Erica, and Michael most recently worked together at DLA Piper. Abby worked with Michael and Brian for many years at Fitzpatrick, Cella, Harper & Scinto in New York before leaving there in a move to Seattle in 2018.
For April, this is a homecoming as she previously practiced at a predecessor firm of Kilpatrick Townsend from 2002 to 2007, including time as a partner. April and Erica subsequently served together for years as partners in the intellectual property litigation department of a major international law firm.
“We welcome Abby, April, Brian, Erica, and Michael to the firm,” said Wab Kadaba, Chair of Kilpatrick Townsend’s Intellectual Property Department. “They bring valuable Hatch-Waxman and biologics/biosimilars expertise and will provide clients with additional capabilities in our already strong life sciences patent litigation and strategic counseling practices. Each offers tremendous intellect, enthusiasm, and creativity in addressing complex pharmaceutical and biological patent disputes. It is also clear they enjoy working with one another and we are confident they will immediately mesh with our existing teams.”
“Kilpatrick Townsend’s strong brand across IP, its top-tier patent practitioners in all service areas, and particularly its deep technical bench in the life sciences arena make it an ideal platform for our practice,” said Mr. Furrow. “The firm’s collegial and inclusive culture was also an important feature that immediately stood out to us,” Mr. O’Reilly added.
Ms. Isaacson expanded, “We know from experience the importance of a collaborative, team approach in servicing client needs. I am thrilled to be rejoining the firm and my former colleagues, and look forward to working with the firm’s outstanding clients who are leaders in drug discovery and medical innovation.”
April Abele Isaacson has 25 years of experience as a trial lawyer and registered United States patent attorney. Ms. Isaacson has significant trial experience in biopharma and chemical patent litigation—particularly Hatch-Waxman cases. She also spent nearly five years in-house at a pharmaceutical company where she provided intellectual property and regulatory strategic counseling during all stages of product development and managed numerous Hatch-Waxman litigations. Ms. Isaacson received her J.D. from Vanderbilt University, her M.S. in pharmacological and physiological sciences from the University of Chicago, and her A.B. in biological sciences from Mount Holyoke College, and is a decorated US Navy veteran (JAG Corps).
Brian David O’Reilly has nearly 20 years of experience representing innovators in patent disputes in courts throughout the United States. Mr. O’Reilly is a first-chair trial attorney, handling both bench and jury trials. He began his career clerking in the District of Delaware and practicing at Cravath Swaine & Moore, and has spent the last 15 years focused on biopharma patent litigation. As a registered patent attorney, with a background in chemistry and finance, Mr. O’Reilly also works with biopharma C-suite, and the life sciences investment community to advise on questions of overlapping patent, regulatory, and commercial strategy. He received his J.D. from New York University School of Law and his B.S. in chemistry from the University of Massachusetts.
Michael Enzo Furrow leads high-stakes patent disputes on behalf of pharmaceutical and biotech innovators. For 13 years, Mr. Furrow has handled actions concerning drugs for over a dozen therapeutic indications and covering all stages of drug discovery. He also routinely advises companies pre- and post-product launch on patent and related regulatory strategy. Mr. Furrow’s background as a chemist gives him an in-depth understanding of the challenges in the discovery of new medicines and motivates him to defend innovation across the biopharma space. He received his J.D. from Harvard Law School, and his A.B. and Ph.D. in chemistry from Harvard University.
Erica W. Kuo centers her practice on patent portfolio strategy and related counseling for innovator life sciences companies. As a registered patent attorney and a former chemist, Ms. Kuo leverages her technical training to craft creative strategies to enable clients to obtain optimal patent coverage. She also regularly provides opinions on issues of freedom to operate, patentability/validity, and loss of exclusivity, and also handles diligence inquiries and structures intellectual property agreements in connection with biopharma commercial transactions. Ms. Kuo received her J.D. from Stanford Law School, her M.S. in chemistry from the University of California, Berkeley, and her B.S. in chemistry from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She has a Certificate of Chinese (Mandarin) from the University of Hong Kong.
Abby Markeson splits her practice between Hatch-Waxman litigation and related strategic counseling, and patent due diligence investigations for major biopharma transactions. She advises innovator pharmaceutical companies at every stage of a drug product’s life cycle, from pre-launch patent portfolio strategy through litigation, and brings that experience to bear in her counseling and due diligence practices. Ms. Markeson received her J.D. from Fordham University School of Law and her A.B. in chemistry from Hamilton College.
These new team members are sought-after thought leaders and frequently speak at industry events and write for leading industry publications.
