December 28, 2005

SAN FRANCISCO – Jeff McKinney has joined Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton LLP as special counsel in its Intellectual Property Practice Group in its San Francisco office. McKinney, most recently with Burns Doane Swecker & Mathis in Redwood Shores, has substantial law firm and corporate experience in the creation, implementation and enforcement of patent portfolios.

McKinney’s practice primarily focuses on patent prosecution matters, including preparation and prosecution of patent applications directed to small organic molecules, pharmaceutical assays, synthetic chemical methods, polymers, nanotechnology, and drug delivery devices. His other legal areas of expertise include patent litigation, IP licensing, research agreements, trademark filing and prosecution, due diligence studies, freedom-to-operate opinions, patentability opinions, and IP portfolio development.

Gary Clark, chair of the Intellectual Property practice group, said, “Jeff is a talented attorney with a great deal of experience in patent law, as well as a formidable scientific background in chemistry. He brings added expertise to our growing IP practice, which is key in San Francisco due to the regional economic importance of the tech industry.”

Commented McKinney, “Sheppard Mullin is a great firm with a substantial and expanding IP practice. I am excited about helping to grow the chemical practice in the San Francisco office and throughout the Firm.”

McKinney’s technological experience is in chemical technologies, including pharmaceutical chemistry, nanotechnology, drug delivery, polymer chemistry, organotransition metal catalysis, chip chemistry, and semiconductor processing. Prior to Burns Doane, he was counsel for Alexza Molecular Delivery Corporation and was a research scientist for Zeneca Pharmaceuticals, where he performed medicinal chemistry research directed to treatments for manic depression and stroke.

McKinney received his law degree from Stanford University Law School in 1997, earned a Ph.D. in chemistry from Ohio State University in 1989, and received an undergraduate degree, summa cum laude, from Hanover College in 1982. He is admitted to practice in California and the United States Patent and Trademark Office.