Sheppard Mullin Grows Intellectual Property Practice in Del Mar Heights
Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton LLP is pleased to announce that Mauricio Flores and David Heisey have joined the firm's Del Mar Heights office. Flores and Heisey join as members of the Intellectual Property practice group. Flores was most recently with McDermott, Will & Emery in Orange County. Heisey was most recently with Luce Forward in San Diego.
Dick Kintz, managing partner of the Del Mar Heights office, commented, "We are very pleased to welcome Mauricio and David to the Del Mar office. They are a perfect fit with the office's already busy IP practice, and with them, we will now have additional capacity."
Gary Clark, chair of the firm's Intellectual Property practice group, commented, "Mauricio and David are excellent additions to the firm's IP group. Both have extensive backgrounds in technology-related IP and long-term professional ties to the region."
Flores' practice is focused primarily on life sciences and biotechnology patent infringement and trade secret disputes. He has handled numerous high-profile biotechnology cases and has extensive experience as a trial lawyer in federal and state courts, as well as state and federal administrative tribunals. Flores has had significant involvement in cases concerning licensing disputes and the ownership of patent rights to federally-funded research under the Bayh-Dole Act. Prior to joining McDermott, Mauricio was a founding partner of Campbell & Flores, a San Diego-based biotech intellectual property law firm. He clerked for the Chief Justice of the California Supreme Court and served as a trial attorney for the U.S. Department of Justice, Civil Division, under the Department’s Honor Law Graduate Program. Most recently Flores was lead counsel for Integra LifeSciences in the seminal case decided by the Supreme Court in June 2005 involving the scope of the exemption for patent infringement for FDA-related activities under the Hatch-Waxman Act. He argued on Integra’s behalf before the Supreme Court after winning a 28-day jury trial and prevailing on appeal to the Federal Circuit. Flores received a J.D. from Harvard Law School in 1977 and a bachelor's degree from San Diego State University.
Heisey is a registered patent attorney with experience in the prosecution of patents in a variety of technologies, including medical instruments, electromechanical devices, computers, computer software and accessories, business methods, semiconductors, thermoelectric devices, combustion engines, superchargers, advanced fabrics, minimally invasive catheter systems, stem cell injection systems, vascular stenting systems, systems for treating damaged spines/spinal cords, hybrid hard/soft contact lenses, intraocular lenses, water purification systems, holography, document security systems, musical instruments, irradiation systems, and more. He also has experience in opinion and counseling, due diligence, licensing, litigation, and trademark prosecution. Heisey received a J.D. from Loyola (Chicago) in 1998 and a bachelor's degree in Industrial Engineering from the University of Illinois at Champaign–Urbana in 1993.
About Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton LLP
Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton LLP is a full service AmLaw 100 firm with more than 480 attorneys in nine offices located throughout California and in New York and Washington, D.C. The firm's California offices are located in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Santa Barbara, Century City, Orange County, Del Mar Heights and San Diego. Sheppard Mullin provides legal expertise and counsel to U.S. and international clients in a wide range of practice areas, including Antitrust, Corporate and Securities; Entertainment, Media and Communications; Finance and Bankruptcy; Government Contracts; Intellectual Property; Labor and Employment; Litigation; Real Estate/Land Use; Tax/Employee Benefits/Trusts & Estates; and White Collar Defense. The firm was founded in 1927.