O'Melveny Adds Renowned IP Group

NEW YORK ─APRIL 7, 2014 ─ O’Melveny & Myers LLP is pleased to announce that Lisa Barons Pensabene, Marc Pensabene, and Filko Prugo, three nationally recognized patent litigators, are joining the Firm’s New York office as partners in the Intellectual Property & Technology Practice.  Lisa Barons Pensabene also will assume the role of firmwide Head of Life Sciences Litigation. 

As leading life sciences patent litigators, Lisa and Filko represent numerous innovator pharmaceutical drug companies in Abbreviated New Drug Application (“ANDA”) or Hatch-Waxman cases.  Together, they bring a combined 40 years of experience and have handled dozens of significant cases for industry-leading innovator pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies.  Marc is a respected patent litigator with great depth and breadth of experience in areas including computer technology, electronics, and engineering.  Collectively, they will help extend to the East Coast O’Melveny’s respected practice of representing life science, consumer product, and information technology companies in intellectual property matters.

“Lisa, Marc, and Filko—all first-chair patent trial lawyers—give us the ability to serve a host of clients, ranging from biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies to computer hardware and software companies in ANDA and traditional patent litigation,” said Firm Chair Bradley J. Butwin.  “Now we can offer premier patent litigation teams on both the East and West coasts.”

Lisa is widely acknowledged as one of the top patent trial lawyers in the life sciences area, with almost 25 years of experience.  She has led more than a dozen major pharmaceutical patent litigations, ranging from a two-week trial for Daiichi Sankyo in 2009, in which she won every issue in the Hatch-Waxman litigation over the company’s blockbuster Benicar® family of medicines, to a week-long trial last summer for Merck on the specialty ophthalmic product Azasite®, again winning on all issues.  She has tried bench and jury cases, argued before the Federal Circuit, and led briefing to the US Supreme Court.  Lisa has represented many other top industry names, such as AstraZeneca, Eli Lilly, and Novartis.  She has received numerous accolades, including being recognized as one of only 19 women patent lawyers in the US inEuromoney’s Women in Business Law 2013 guide and by IAM Patent 2013 as a leading lawyer, “eminently knowledgeable about the law and very cooperative.”  Lisa graduated with a B.S. from Pennsylvania State University in 1986.  She earned a J.D., magna cum laude, Order of the Coif, from Georgetown University in 1991.

Marc focuses on complex patent litigation and, for 20 years, has litigated matters involving a wide variety of technologies.  Some of the specific technologies he has worked with include computer hardware and software, digital communications, electronic commerce, image sensors, digital scanners, digital image editing, laser printers, video discs, automotive powertrain components and control systems, industrial turbocharger components, fire protection sprinklers, ophthalmic lens manufacturing systems, injection molding equipment, and surgical tools.  He has extensive experience leading trial teams on behalf of industry leaders such as IBM, Canon, the Reliable Automatic Sprinkler Company, and the Schaeffler Group of companies.  Marc also has experience litigating ANDA patent cases and copyright, trademark, and unfair competition matters.  Recently, he obtained summary judgment of invalidity as to all asserted patent claims in a case involving remote computing technology.  At the same time, he has been leading a litigation team in two cases brought against a client challenging 17 patents that implicate more than a hundred devices.  Marc graduated with a B.E. in electrical engineering from State University of New York at Stony Brook in 1991 and received his J.D., cum laude, from Brooklyn Law School in 1994.

For almost 15 years, Filko’s practice has focused on life sciences patent litigation, particularly with regard to Hatch-Waxman litigation.  He has experience leading numerous litigation teams in high-stakes patent litigation and, in the past four years, he has first-chaired three full ANDA trials.  Among Filko’s most significant victories are two trials he led for Genzyme in 2011 and 2012 in which he won every issue in Hatch-Waxman litigations over the company’s Hectorol® products.  Most recently, Filko has represented Genzyme, one of the world’s leading biotechnology companies (now a Sanofi company), Eli Lilly, and Novartis.  Named to The Legal 500, Filko has impressed clients for being “exceptionally bright” and for having “a strong scientific background” that allows him to “dig in deep with experts.”  He also has been recognized for the past two years as a leading attorney in LMG Life Sciences.  Filko received a B.Sc. in chemistry, graduating top of his class, from Toronto’s York University in 1996 and a J.D. from Osgoode Hall Law School, also in Toronto, in 1998.  He currently is completing a master’s in biotechnology from Johns Hopkins University.

“O’Melveny is a first-class litigation firm with a worldwide platform,” said Lisa Pensabene.  “The Firm’s litigation strength, depth, and global resources combined with our specialized patent litigation skills will provide unparalleled ability to serve clients in all aspects of technology litigation, from life sciences to electronics.”   

About O’Melveny & Myers LLP

With approximately 800 lawyers in 16 offices worldwide, O’Melveny & Myers LLP helps industry leaders across a broad array of sectors manage the complex challenges of succeeding in the global economy. We are a values-driven law firm, guided by the principles of excellence, leadership, and citizenship. Our commitment to these values is reflected in our dedication to improving access to justice through pro bono work and championing initiatives that increase the diversity of the legal profession. For more information, please visit www.omm.com