Attorneys from across the US and Canada gathered last night on Sept. 12 at New York’s Essex House for the yearly LMG Life Sciences Awards, which honors top-ranking firms and individuals for outstanding legal work in the life sciences sector. This event, which is part of the 2018 research cycle for LMG Life Sciences, presented categories that recognize work in the four main practice areas covered by the guide, including regulatory, intellectual property, financial and corporate, and litigation and enforcement.

Among the highlights of the night was the induction of four exceptional life sciences attorneys into the Hall of Fame for their remarkable careers dedicated to clients in the industry.

Below is a list of this year’s award winners.

 

2018 Hall of Fame Inductees

Lori Cohen, Greenberg Traurig

Ron Dimock, DLA Piper

Anthony Figg, Rothwell Figg Ernst & Manbeck

Judith Hasko, Latham & Watkins

Catherine Polizzi, Morrison & Foerster

 

US Life Cycle Firm of the Year

Goodwin Procter

 

Canadian Life Cycle Firm of the Year

Torys

 

Regulatory

 

Regulatory Attorney of the Year: Pharmaceuticals 

Daniel Kracov, Arnold & Porter 

 

Regulatory Attorney of the Year: Medical Devices

Vernessa Pollard, McDermott Will & Emery 

 

Regulatory Attorney of the Year: Pricing & Reimbursement

Alice Valder Curran, Hogan Lovells 

 

Regulatory Rising Star

Alexander Varond, Goodwin Procter

 

Regulatory Firm to Watch

Arent Fox

 

Regulatory Firm of the Year

Hogan Lovells 

 

Financial & Corporate

 

Corporate Attorney of the Year

Laura Berezin, Cooley 

 

Licensing & Collaboration Attorney of the Year

Thomas Duley, King & Spalding 

 

M&A Attorney of the Year

Adam Golden, Hogan Lovells 

 

Corporate Firm of the Year

Cooley 

 

Licensing & Collaboration Firm of the Year

Ropes & Gray 

 

M&A Firm of the Year

Latham & Watkins 

 

Venture Capital Firm of the Year

Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati

 

Financial & Corporate In-House Team of the Year

Celgene 

 

Financial & Corporate Rising Star

Hannah Freeman, Ropes & Gray

 

Finance & Transactional Impact Deals of the Year

Celgene $9 billion acquisition of Juno Therapeutics 

Eli Lilly $1.6 billion acquisition of ARMO biosciences

Gilead Sciences $11.9 billion acquisition of Kite Pharma

Roche $1.7 billion acquisition of Ignyta

Sanofi’s $11.6B Acquisition of Bioverativ, Inc.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals and CRISPR Therapeutics strategic research collaboration valued at 2.1 billion dollars.

 

Litigation & Enforcement 

Product Liability Attorney of the Year

Lori Cohen, Greenberg Traurig 

 

Product Liability Firm of the Year

Bradley Arant Boult Cummings 

 

Government Investigations Attorney of the Year

Kimberly Dunne, Sidley Austin 

 

Government Investigations Firm of the Year

Morgan Lewis & Bockius 

 

Antitrust Litigator of the Year

Ted Hassi, Debevoise & Plimpton 

 

Antitrust Firm of the Year

Weil Gotshal & Manges 

 

Litigation Firm of the Year

Williams & Connolly 

 

Intellectual Property 

 

Intellectual Property Boutique Firm of the Year

Finnegan Henderson Farabow Garrett & Dunner 

 

Hatch-Waxman Litigator of the Year – Branded

Charles Lipsey, Finnegan Henderson Farabow Garrett & Dunner 

 

Hatch-Waxman Litigation Firm of the Year – Branded

Paul Hastings 

 

Hatch-Waxman Litigator of the Year – Generic

George Lombardi, Winston & Strawn 

 

Hatch-Waxman Litigation Firm of the Year – Generic

Winston & Strawn 

 

Hatch-Waxman Impact Cases of the Year

Eli Lilly & Co. v. Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories

Helsinn Healthcare SA v. Teva Pharmaceuticals

Horizon Pharma v. Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories

Merck Sharp & Dohme v. Hospira

Millennium Pharmaceuticals v. Sandoz

Sanofi v. Watson Laboratories

 

General Patent Litigator of the Year – California

Jonathan Singer, Fish & Richardson 

 

General Patent Litigator of the Year - District of Columbia

Matthew Wolf, Arnold & Porter

 

General Patent Litigator of the Year – Illinois

John Labbé, Marshall Gerstein & Borun 

 

General Patent Litigator of the Year - New England

Lisa Pirozzolo, WilmerHale 

 

General Patent Litigator of the Year - New York

Nicholas Groombridge, Paul Weiss Rifkind Wharton & Garrison 

 

General Patent Litigation Firm of the Year

Fish & Richardson 

 

Patent Impact Cases of the Year

Amgen v. Hospira

Biogen IDEC MA v. EMD Serono et al

GlaxoSmithKline et al v. Teva Pharmaceuticals

Idenix Pharmaceuticals et al v. Gilead Sciences

Saint Regis Mohawk Tribe, Allergan v. Mylan Pharmaceuticals et al

 

Patent Strategy & Management Attorney of the Year – California

Salima Merani, Knobbe Martens Olson & Bear 

 

Patent Strategy & Management Attorney of the Year - District of Columbia

Eric Steffe, Sterne Kessler Goldstein & Fox 

 

Patent Strategy & Management Attorney of the Year – Massachusetts

Anita Varma, White & Case 

 

Patent Strategy & Management Attorney of the Year – Midwest

Pamela Cox, Marshall Gerstein & Borun
 

Patent Strategy & Management Attorney of the Year - New York

Ivor Elrifi, Cooley 

 

Patent Strategy and Management Firm of the Year

Wolf Greenfield & Sacks 

 

Post Grant Proceedings Attorney of the Year

Dorothy Whelan, Fish & Richardson 

 

Inter-Partes Review Firm of the Year

Finnegan Henderson Farabow Garrett & Dunner

 

Intellectual Property Firm to Watch

Axinn Veltrop & Harkrider

 

Intellectual Property Rising Star

Thomas Fletcher, Williams & Connolly

 

Intellectual Property Firm of the Year

Fish & Richardson 

  

Intellectual Property In-house Team of the Year

Gilead Sciences 

 

Canada

 

Canadian Product Liability Attorney of the Year

Jill Lawrie, Blake Cassels & Graydon 

 

Canadian Product Liability Firm of the Year

Torys

 

Canadian In-House Team of the Year

AstraZeneca

  

Canadian Patent Litigation Attorney of the Year

Gunars Gaikis, Smart & Biggar/Fetherstonhaugh 

 

Canadian Patent Contentious Firm of the Year

Smart & Biggar/Fetherstonhaugh 

 

Canadian Patent Non-Contentious Attorney of the Year 

Eileen McMahon, Torys 

 

Canadian Patent Non-Contentious Firm of the Year 

Smart & Biggar/Fetherstonhaugh 

 

Canadian Rising Star

Marian Wolanski, Belmore Neidrauer 

 

Canadian IP Impact Cases of the Year

AbbVie et al v. Samsung Bioepis et al

Bristol-Myers Squibb v. Apotex

Pfizer v. Apotex

 

Canadian Financial & Corporate Attorney of the Year 

Joseph Garcia, Blake Cassels & Graydon

 

Canadian Financial & Corprate Firm of the Year 

Torys

 

Canadian Deals of the Year

Aurora C$1.1 billion acquisition of CanniMed

Sale of Merus Labs to Norgine B.V. for $342 million

Zymeworks Inc. $64 million initial public offering