Debra K. Leith joined the firm in 2002 and is a member of the Patent & Trademarks Practice Group, the Intellectual Property Transactions Practice Group and the Life Sciences Practice.

Experience

Dr. Leith has over 17 years of experience in the intellectual property and biotechnology fields of law. Prior to joining Heller Ehrman, she served as Vice President of the Intellectual Property Group for ZymoGenetics, Inc., a large biotechnology company in Seattle. While at ZymoGenetics, Dr. Leith's experience included heading the Business Development Group and the Legal Affairs Group, in addition to the Intellectual Property Group. In these capacities, she was primarily responsible for corporate agreements and licensing arrangements.

Dr. Leith has a Ph.D. in Medical Microbiology, is registered to practice before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, and has extensive corporate counsel experience. Dr. Leith uses these broad professional experiences in advising and counseling clients in a spectrum of life sciences transactions, from non-disclosure and technology licensing agreements to strategic alliances to intellectual property analyses and strategy. Most recently, she concentrated on protection and acquisition of novel, recombinant human DNA and protein therapeutic candidates, but she also has industry experience in immunology (including antibodies and antibody-based products) and protein identification and manipulation. Dr. Leith has been a speaker at various local and national meetings and seminars.