We are pleased to announce that Thomas A. Cawley, Jr., Ph.D. and Russell S. Timm, Ph.D. have joined the firm as Partners and Lakshmi Rajan, Ph.D. has joined as a Patent Agent in our Patent practice group.
Dr. Tom Cawley is a highly regarded patent lawyer with over 20 years of experience serving a wide range of clients, from universities to large pharmaceutical/biotechnology companies. Dr. Cawley concentrates his practice on biotechnology patent prosecution, opinion work, and client counseling, including the design and implementation of global intellectual property strategies. Keenly aware of a client’s business needs and budget constraints, he consistently works to control costs and improve efficiencies for his clients.
Dr. Cawley has experience with a range of technologies including gene therapy, transgenic animals, genomics, recombinant herpes simplex viruses, recombinant production of procaryotic and eucaryotic gene products, small molecule technologies, antibody technologies (therapeutic antibodies/antibody drug conjugates), immunocontraception, RNA interference technologies, novel adjuvant therapies, screening methods for the identification of novel drug candidates, cancer therapy, agricultural biotechnology, and methods and compositions for the treatment of a variety of neurological conditions.
Dr. Cawley received his doctorate in Physiology and Biophysics with a concentration in molecular pharmacology. Prior to joining Potomac Law, he was a Partner at both Womble Bond Dickinson-US LLP and Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP.
Dr. Cawley received a bachelor’s degree in Biology and a bachelor’s degree in Political Science, both from the University of Scranton. He earned his Ph.D. from the Drexel University College of Medicine, Physiology & Biophysics, and his J.D. from the University of New Hampshire.
Whether working with sophisticated in-house counsel at a large pharmaceutical company or an individual inventor with little experience in the patent process, Dr. Russ Timm’s practice is based on the premise that a patent is not an end in and of itself, but rather a tool to achieve business objectives. When it comes to the patenting process, Dr. Timm has a particular interest in the areas of patent-eligible subject matter, double patenting and terminal disclaimers, patent term adjustment, and the differences in the patenting process in countries around the world.
Working with both US and foreign colleagues, Dr. Timm has pursued patent protection for his clients’ inventions in more than 40 national and multinational patent offices, from Europe and Japan to Costa Rica and the UAE. His clients’ technologies encompass therapeutic antibodies and ADCs, agricultural biotechnology, disease and infection diagnostics, vaccines, human and animal health products, novel pharmaceuticals, screening methods, RNA interference and complex materials.
Dr. Timm’s graduate research involved analyzing the effect of androgens on the expression of a high-affinity carnitine transporter. He earned a B.S. in Biochemistry & Molecular Biology with a minor in Chemistry from Pennsylvania State University. He received his Ph.D. in Biochemistry & Molecular Biology from the Medical College of Georgia, and his J.D. from Georgia State University. Prior to joining Potomac Law, Dr. Timm was Of Counsel at Womble Bond Dickinson-US LLP.
Lakshmi Rajan, Ph.D. is an accomplished scientist and an experienced patent agent. Dr. Rajan leverages her expansive scientific background and over a decade of experience in the patent law field to help clients protect innovations in the biotechnology, pharmaceutical, chemical, agricultural, and food industries.
Dr. Rajan’s strong technical expertise and hands-on laboratory research experience allow her to understand complex technologies in depth, and communicate effectively with inventors, patent examiners, technology transfer officials, and in-house counsel to develop and implement robust patent protection strategies for her clients’ valuable intellectual property assets. Her practice spans a variety of intellectual property matters including patent application drafting, domestic and foreign patent prosecution, development and management of patent portfolios, patentability opinions, freedom-to-operate, and general client counseling. On behalf of her clients, she works collaboratively with IP counsel throughout the world to secure patent protection in foreign jurisdictions.
Dr. Rajan has represented a wide spectrum of clients including independent inventors, universities, national research laboratories, start-up companies and multinational corporations in patent matters in the areas of antibody technology and therapies, immunotherapy technologies for cancer and inflammatory conditions, T-cell therapy, bioengineered enzymes, therapeutic peptides, genomics, gene editing, gene therapy, stem cell therapy, vaccines, biomarkers, diagnostics, small molecules, food and beverage products, and agricultural biotechnology.
Dr. Rajan received her B.Sc. in Microbiology from the Honors School of Panjab University in Chandigarh, and her M. Biotech. from the All India Institute of Medical Sciences in New Delhi, India. She earned her Ph.D. in Microbiology from the University of Texas at Austin. Prior to joining Potomac Law, Dr. Rajan was a Patent Agent at Womble Bond Dickinson-US LLP.
