FisherBroyles, LLP, the world’s first and largest distributed law firm, is pleased to announce that Dr. Naira Simmons and Dr. Joseph P. Pieroni have joined the Firm in its intellectual property group. Dr. Simmons and Dr. Pieroni come to FisherBroyles after previously practicing at an Am Law 100 firm and as in-house counsel at a pharmaceutical company, respectively. Before coming to FisherBroyles, Dr. Simmons was an associate at Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati. Prior to Dr. Pieronis arrival at FisherBroyles, he was senior patent counsel at Kashiv BioSciences LLC. 

Dr. Simmons joins the firm in Palo Alto. In her practice, she focuses on strategic intellectual property counseling. She counsels a range of clients, from start-ups to established companies, through a broad spectrum of matters, including patent prosecution, due diligence, patentability, non-infringement, and mergers and acquisitions. Dr. Simmons also provides counsel on invalidity, and freedom-to-operate analyses relating to financings, mergers and acquisitions, and public offerings. Additionally, in her career, Dr. Simmons has prosecuted patent applications on four continents.

Dr. Simmons received her bachelor’s degree from Hunter College of the City University of New York, her law degree from University of California, Hastings College of the Law, and her Ph.D. from Weill Cornell Graduate School of Medical Sciences of Cornell University. Additionally, she has worked with the Committee on Science Technology and Law (CSTL) at the National Academy of Sciences and the Rare Genomics Institute.

Dr. Pieroni joins the firm in Princeton. He also practiced at O’Melveny & Myers LLP and Fitzpatrick, Cella, Harper & Scinto. His practice is centered around patent preparation, prosecution, and counseling. Dr. Pieroni works with clients in the biotechnology, medical technologies, pharmaceutical, and biological sciences sectors.

Dr. Pieroni is licensed to practice in New York and New Jersey, as well as before the United States Patent and Trademark Office. He received his bachelor’s degree from SUNY Binghamton-Harpur College, his law degree from Fordham University School of Law, and Ph.D. from New York Medical College.

T.J. DoVale, Managing Partner, Intellectual Property: “Both Dr. Simmons and Dr. Pieroni have deep patent law experience in the biotech industry. Adding them to the team is another feather in the cap of our IP group here at FisherBroyles. We are striving to be one of the preeminent IP groups in the country and this addition furthers that goal.”