Kevin Buckley : Pharmaceutical, Medical Device, Biotechnology Patent Attorney and Business Lawyer

I am a technology lawyer handling intellectual property, transactional and regulatory issues that are part of the biopharmaceutical, small molecule pharmaceutical, and in vitro diagnostics commercialization processes. As an attorney in a prominent Philadelphia intellectual property law firm -- RatnerPrestia -- I am part of its BioChemPharma practice where I focus on commercializing technologies internationally. I was recently honored by my peers to be listed in The Best Lawyers in America® 2010 and 2011 editions in the field of Biotechnology Law. My full professional biography is available at RatnerPrestia.

I have over a decade of experience building Fortune 500® and other entrepreneurial client businesses. My law practice includes developing and implementing commercialization strategies for biotechnology, biopharmaceutical, small molecule pharmaceutical and convergence technology innovations (technologies at the intersection of biotech, software, hardware and informatics). This often includes patent preparation and prosecution, technology transfer, intellectual property licensing, conducting competitive intelligence and freedom-to-operate analysis, opinion drafting, business formation and corporate governance, forming institutional collaborations, intellectual property valuation, pharmaceutical life-cycle management, and conducting due diligence for private investments.

I also represent a large private research institute and a large public university system in identifying commercial potential of their innovations, protecting those innovations, and resolving complex legal and business issues that can accompany the commercial application of basic research discoveries. I also counsel clients with respect to regulatory matters pending before the FDA, and where relevant the USDA and EPA for agriculture and veterinary technologies. My experience on several litigation teams has included patent infringement, trademark infringement, copyright infringement, trade secret, unfair competition and patent interference matters. I am a registered patent attorney with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and admitted to practice law in Pennsylvania (pending*) and Missouri. I practice law primarily from RatnerPrestia's Valley Forge office.

Before becoming an attorney, I was a biochemist in both academics and industry. I was fortunate to be raised just down the street from the University of California, San Diego where I was a Research Scholar and received a B.S. in Biochemistry/Chemistry with a minor degree in Economics. While conducting research in the laboratory of Dr. Dennis Carson, head of the UCSD Cancer Center, I investigated the role of novel purine nucleoside analogs in autoimmune diseases and cytokine mediated cell responses including apoptosis, rheumatoid arthritis, AIDS and cancers. I then pursued my interests in the biotech industry where I investigated ribonucleic acid (RNA)-based therapeutics for treating viral infections.

After meeting my wife, Celine Buckley, at a start-up biotech company I followed her to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania where she attended the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and I attended the University of Pittsburgh School of Law. During my last year of law school, I was the Editor-in-Chief of The Pittsburgh Journal of Technology Law & Policy and founded a non-profit foundation to support the publication. I followed Celine again to St. Louis, Missouri where she completed her radiology residency at the Mallinckrodt Institute of Radiology, part of the Washington University School of Medicine. Celine will complete her fellowship in abdominal and cardiothoracic imaging at the University of Pennsylvania.

I thoroughly enjoyed being an adjunct professor at the Washington University School of Law where I taught a Biotechnology Law course. My lifelong commitment to education, both of my own and of others, began with the many exceptional experiences I had at The Bishop's School, a college preparatory school in La Jolla, California. Seven members of my family taught classes at various levels during their careers (my Mom still teaches elementary school), so it seems natural that I should enjoy engaging with students at all levels.

I am also committed to developing the entrepreneurship community and have volunteered for a number of business and economic development organizations. I especially enjoyed being a mentor to Innovation Acceleration Partnership Fellows who are funded by a National Science Foundation grant through the Skandalaris Center for Entrepreneurial Studies at Washington University. I also regularly spoke about the implementation of commercialization strategies with emerging businesses and finance students at the Olin Business School. I recently developed a technology startup finance series for the STL Innovation Camp, a semi-annual multi-day bootcamp for budding entrepreneurs. My web site BioCommercialization.com provides many of the resources that I use when teaching and speaking.

My outside interests include involvement with the International Society for Stem Cell Research. I became a proponent of stem cell research in 2000 when I began assisting both state legislators and U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee counsel in evaluating pending legislation and initiatives. Some of my other outside interests include kayaking, fly-fishing and gardening. Judging by the amount of mud I scrape off my boots every weekend, I think it's safe to say that the latter outside interests dominate Celine's and my weekends....

Having grown up in San Diego, I spent as much time as possible in the ocean where I enjoyed surfing, kayaking, swimming at La Jolla Cove, womping, skin diving, sailing, wind surfing, and a few other sports that my friends and I may have invented. Because my father is a mountaineer, I also grew up rock climbing in Joshua Tree, hiking in the Sierra Nevada and Baja California, and ice axing in Yosemite. Although I don't get back often enough, my favorite activities include taking long walks that include the Cove and Torrey Pines, and enjoying long conversations with Celine, our family and old friends at the Pannikin and Brockton Villa.

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