Sidley Austin LLP announced today that Vernon M. Winters will join its San Francisco office as a partner in the intellectual property litigation practice, effective January 1, 2012. Mr. Winters focuses his practice on complex patent and patent license litigation for life sciences companies and technology companies. He has litigated cases in jurisdictions nationwide and has worked with a number of the country’s leading technology companies.
Patty Thayer, a partner in Sidley’s Northern California IP practice, commented, “We are thrilled to have Vern join our IP litigation practice. I have had the privilege of working with Vern over the years, and I know first-hand that he is a top notch litigator.”
“I am very excited to be joining Sidley Austin,” said Mr. Winters. “I was drawn to Sidley because of its outstanding IP litigation practice, its deep experience in the biopharmaceutical industry and its reputation for winning commercially significant disputes for innovation-based companies. I look forward to working with Sidley colleagues, both new and old, and further building Sidley’s IP litigation platform.”
“It is a great privilege to welcome Vern to Sidley,” said Anne E. Rea, the member of Sidley’s Management Committee responsible for its West Coast offices. “Vern is a highly respected first chair patent trial lawyer who will enhance our strong IP litigation team and further position us to serve biotech and medical device clients, as well as information technology clients.”
Mr. Winters has spoken and published widely on patent litigation issues, and is co-author of the treatise Modern Patent Litigation. From 2002-2010, he taught and co-taught Patent Litigation at the University of California, Berkeley School of Law. He currently serves on the Board of Editors of the Intellectual Property & Technology Law Journal, the Advisory Board of the Center for the Advanced Study and Research on Intellectual Property at the University of Washington School of Law in Seattle, Washington and the National Editorial Board of The Federal Lawyer in Washington, D.C. Mr. Winters has also been consistently recognized in Chambers USA: America’s Leading Lawyers for Business.
