Press Release

 

TYSONS CORNER, VA—Womble Carlyle Sandridge & Rice, PLLC, announced that the firm is significantly expanding its biotechnology and software patent practices with the addition of six patent attorneys and patent agents. Joining the firm are attorneys Dr. Thomas A. Cawley, Jr., Dr. Julie B. Meigs, Dr. Russell S. Timm and Linda Hutchison, as well as biotech patent agent Dr. Bernard A. Brown II and software patent agent Nidhi Chotani. All will practice in the firm’s Northern Virginia office, save for Brown, who will practice in Winston-Salem, N.C.

 

“We are experiencing growing demands in our biotech and software patent practices. The addition of these outstanding professionals will greatly expand our capacity to serve our life sciences and software clients,” said Jim Vaughan, leader of Womble Carlyle’s Intellectual Property Practice Group.

 

“Womble Carlyle already has a solid reputation as a leader in the life sciences patent area. We believe the firm’s existing resources and experience in this field are a good match for us, and will benefit our clients,” Cawley said. The new team members are:

 

Dr. Thomas A. Cawley, Jr.—Tom Cawley brings a wide range of patent experience to the firm, both domestic and international. He has assisted clients in preparing and prosecuting patents related to gene therapy, transgenic animals, genomics, recombinant herpes simplex viruses, recombinant production of procaryotic and eucaryotic gene products, small molecule technologies, antibody technologies, novel adjuvant therapies, screening methods for the identification of novel drug candidates, cancer therapy, and methods and compositions for the treatment of a variety of neurological conditions. In addition to his J.D., Tom holds a Ph.D. in physiology and biophysics.

 

Dr. Julie Broadus Meigs—Julie Meigs represents clients within patent matters that include neuroscience, receptor biology, stem cell biology and cellular therapies, animal cloning, drug discovery and development, antibody technology and therapies, genetics and genomics-related technologies, biological imaging and agricultural biotechnology. Julie is a former research scientist at Novartis with a Ph.D. in neuroscience.

 

Dr. Russell S. Timm—Russell Timm principally devotes his practice to patent matters that include bio- and chemical technologies, such as antibody technology and therapies, agricultural biotechnology, disease and infection diagnostics, vaccines, human and animal health products, novel pharmaceuticals, screening methods, RNA interference, and materials science. He has a Ph.D. in biochemistry and molecular biology.

 

Linda S. Hutchison—An experienced patent prosecution attorney, Linda Hutchison brings a business background to her legal practice. She previously worked as a manufacturing engineer for a large consumer products corporation. She also has been a management consultant both in the United States and Europe, and has worked as a project manager for custom software development.

Dr. Bernard A. “Bernie” Brown II—Bernie Brown is a biotechnology patent agent. He holds a Ph.D. in biochemistry and is a former Senior Research Scientist at North Carolina State University.

 

Nidhi Chotani—Nidhi Chotani has extensive experience in the area of software prosecution, primarily computer software platforms, interface software and telecommunication hardware and software. Nidhi has a master’s degree in telecommunications. She also will work on the Software Team in the firm’s Northern Virginia office, along with software/electrical patent attorneys Rick Toering and Hean Koo.

The group members' significant experience as scientific researchers, in-house executives, and outside counsel gives them a rare appreciation for the business aspects of intellectual property law, and allows them to uniquely align business strategy to intellectual property strategy.
 

The addition of the five biotech attorneys/patent agents further strengthens a rapidly growing Life Sciences patent team. Earlier this year, the team added such veteran intellectual property and patent attorneys and specialists as Dr. Alireza Behrooz, Dr. Butch Carroll, Dr. Chris Jeffers, Dr. David Levy and Dr. Parithosh Tungaturthi. These attorneys have brought their experience—as well as top life sciences clients—to the firm.

This increases the number of biotech patent attorneys to nine and the overall Intellectual Property Practice Group to nearly 70 attorneys and agents firm wide. 

 

A full-service business law firm, Womble Carlyle ranks among AmLaw’s 100 leading firms in the country and is a top law firm for companies doing business in the Southeast and Mid-Atlantic states. The firm is a recipient of the Thurgood Marshall College Fund Corporate Leadership Award, making Womble Carlyle the first law firm ever to receive the highest honor given to a business organization in recognition of its support of the Fund and its 45 member educational institutions.

Founded in 1876, Womble Carlyle operates in six states and the District of Columbia with nearly 550 attorneys in eleven offices located in Atlanta, GA; Greenville, SC; Charlotte, Greensboro, Raleigh, Research Triangle Park, and Winston-Salem, NC; Washington, DC; Tysons Corner, VA; Wilmington, DE; and Baltimore, MD. Womble Carlyle is located in the Southeast and mid-Atlantic regions, and serves clients nationally and globally.