Global law firm Goodwin announced today that four partners are joining the firm’s international Life Sciences practice in the San Francisco and Silicon Valley offices. Michael Shuster joined in San Francisco, and Sam Zucker and Deepa Rich joined in Silicon Valley. In addition, Kevin Kabler will join the firm in the San Francisco office.
“We are thrilled to extend the reach of Goodwin’s global life sciences offering in Northern California with the addition of this preeminent group of corporate and intellectual property lawyers,” said Mitchell Bloom, Chair of Goodwin’s Life Sciences practice. “With Michael, Kevin, Deepa and Sam on board to expand the existing team, we now have a powerhouse West Coast life sciences team in place to augment and collaborate with Goodwin’s market-leading East Coast life sciences practice. Having expanded internationally last year, our platform is unique in its ability to meet sophisticated life sciences and biotechnology client needs across the key geographies. We are pleased to welcome Michael, Kevin, Deepa and Sam to the Goodwin partnership.”
- Michael Shuster provides strategic intellectual property legal services to biotechnology, chemical and pharmaceutical companies. His practice includes patent prosecution, portfolio analysis, due diligence, litigation and opinion work. His clients include start-up and established biotechnology companies, venture capital firms and research universities and hospitals. Most recently, Shuster served as the co-chair of Fenwick & West LLP’s Life Sciences group.
- Kevin Kabler builds and manages patent portfolios for companies and institutions in the life sciences industry in the fields of immuno-oncology, antibodies, personalized medicine, vaccines, genetics, biologics, RNAi, stem cells and immunotherapy. He provides strategic patent counseling and due diligence to clients at all stages of the business cycle in the life sciences industry, and also analyzes and evaluates third-party patents for risk reduction from assertions as well as investment purposes. Kabler was most recently in Fenwick & West LLP’s Life Sciences group.
- Deepa Rich practices general securities and corporate law, with an emphasis on private and public companies and venture capital funds primarily in the life sciences and healthcare industries. Rich was most recently at Sidley Austin LLP.
- Sam Zucker focuses on corporate transactions for high growth, life sciences and healthcare companies around the world, including representation of investors and portfolio companies in biotech, biopharma, and digital health. His practice covers mergers and acquisition, financings, capital markets and general corporate matters. Zucker advises clients’ management and board of directors on corporate governance and critical strategic matters. He was most recently at Sidley Austin LLP.
“Goodwin has built a destination life science practice to serve innovative biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies,” said Shuster. “This capability is ideal for our forward-looking, pioneering client base. Kevin and I are joining Goodwin as much for its well-rounded strengths today, as for the opportunities that we believe the Goodwin platform will afford our clients tomorrow.”
“There is a common language of life sciences at Goodwin – it is in the firm’s DNA, making this platform a great fit for our clients at every stage of their development,” said Zucker. “Together with Michael, Kevin and Deepa, I am thrilled to help expand Goodwin’s life sciences platform – already the market leader on the East Coast – on the West Coast.”
Goodwin represents leading public and private life sciences companies across their entire life cycles – including financings, capital market transactions, mergers and acquisitions, collaborations and licensing, intellectual property and regulatory matters. Goodwin has been named life sciences “Practice Group of the Year” by Law360, “Biotech Firm of the Year” by U.S. News and World Report - Best Lawyers, and “IP Law Firm of the Year” by LMG Life Sciences.
In 2018, Goodwin advised issuers on more than a dozen biotechnology and pharmaceutical industry IPOs worth in aggregate nearly $2 billion – making Goodwin the number one advisor in this sector by offering value. This work included representation of Moderna Therapeutics in the largest biotechnology IPO in history.
Goodwin has more than 200 lawyers across its California offices.