Lawyer Monthly Magazine, a global news website and legal publication, has recognized three Knobbe Martens attorneys in its “2016 Women in Law Awards.” These awards highlight the achievements of outstanding women in the legal profession around the world. Orange County office partner Salima Merani, Ph.D., Seattle office partner Maria Anderson, and Los Angeles office partner Karen Vogel Weil, received the award and was featured in a special May edition of the magazine.
Salima Merani, Ph.D. has over fifteen years of experience building patent portfolios for life sciences companies, including several medtech and biotech companies. As lead intellectual property counsel for several medical device startups, Dr. Merani has conducted patent due diligence for many venture capital and investment firms. Additionally, she has wide-ranging experience in U.S. and international patent and trademark portfolio management, licensing, strategic offensive positioning, infringement analysis, IPOs, acquisitions, and managing global patent risk. Dr. Merani’s focus in medical devices includes strategic guidance in the fields of aesthetics, orthopedics, cardiovascular and neuroscience, including medical implants, denervation and tissue ablation, regenerative technology, antibody technology, hypertension, diabetes, and dermatological conditions. Furthermore, her technical work outside the medical arena includes a deep knowledge in the fields of cosmetic formulations and nutraceuticals.
Maria Anderson’s practice focuses on providing comprehensive, strategic client counseling in all aspects of intellectual property. For over two decades, she has been active in the prosecution of patent applications in the computer science and e-commerce fields. In addition to her focus in patent and trademark portfolios and developing patent and trademark assets, Ms. Anderson also has extensive experience in providing patent and trademark clearance analysis and advice for a wide variety of products and services. Throughout her career, she has counseled clients on patentability and infringement matters and developed comprehensive intellectual property programs for pre-litigation and enforcement purposes.
Karen Vogel Weil’s practice focuses on all aspects of intellectual property litigation, including representing plaintiffs and defendants in patent, trademark, copyright and trade secret disputes. She has both trial and appellate experience. Ms. Weil is also experienced in the area of patent damages and is called on to spearhead the damages portion of most of the firm’s large litigations. Most noteworthy is Ms. Weil’s leadership and prominent role in Masimo Corp. v. Philips Electronics North America Corp., which resulted in a jury verdict of $466 million dollars.
In selecting award winners, Lawyer Monthly’s research department took into consideration personal achievement, votes from Lawyer Monthly’s 180,000+ readers, the level of documented activity in 2015 when compared to industry peers, previous legal industry honors, involvement in significant legal cases and legal activity, and dollar value of involvement within transactions, deals and cases.
About Knobbe Martens
With over 300 lawyers and scientists nationwide, Knobbe Martens Olson & Bear LLP dedicates its practice to all aspects of intellectual property law including litigation. Consistently ranked among the top intellectual property firms worldwide, Knobbe Martens serves a diverse group of clients from multinational corporations to emerging businesses of all stages. Headquartered in Orange County, California, Knobbe Martens also has offices in San Diego, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Silicon Valley, Seattle and Washington, D.C. More information about the firm can be found at www.knobbe.com.
