Overview

• Beginning in 1997, when the University of Michigan retained us to defend its affirmative action programs, our team constructed a strategy to demonstrate that institutions of higher learning have a compelling interest in achieving the educational benefits of a racially diverse student body. That strategy succeeded. Relying heavily on the extensive expert case developed by the WilmerHale team at the district court level, the Supreme Court upheld the consideration of race as a factor in admissions to colleges, universities and graduate schools.
• The firm represented Hamilton College in a case alleging the college’s residential policy violated antitrust laws.
• The firm has one of the premier practices in the United States representing private and public colleges and universities in a broad range of tax, business, employment and employee benefit matters.
• The firm has handled many large tax audits and controversies for colleges and universities with the Internal Revenue Service and various State agencies.

Strategic IP Planning and Patent Prosecution

• Advice to Columbia University on the development of a strategic plan for the commercialization of a collection of patents. We analyzed and classified the technologies for marketing purposes, researched potential markets, identified possible licensees and delivered a comprehensive strategy far beyond the capability of most university technology transfer offices.
• Patent prosecution for universities including Boston University, Brown University, Columbia University, Harvard University, Michigan State University, Rutgers University, University of Chicago and University of Pittsburgh, and for medical facilities such as the Dana Farber Cancer Institute.

IP Litigation

• On behalf of a major university and its licensee, we prevailed in a patent interference proceeding concerning an active agent in a drug for the treatment of septic shock. The decision was upheld in an appeal before the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit.
• For American Superconductor, we convinced a US District Court judge to reverse a Patent Office decision in an interference proceeding, and to maintain an important patent in the field of high temperature superconductors our client exclusively licenses from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Licensing, Joint Ventures and Strategic Alliances

• For a nationally preeminent Boston-area research university, we structured a number of innovative international joint venture arrangements to support collaborative research, and facilitated the establishment of complex interdisciplinary research vehicles.
• We represented the Mexican National Institute for Astronomy, Optics and Electronics in a cross-border joint venture with the University of Massachusetts to construct a state-of-the-art large millimeter radio telescope observatory in Puebla, Mexico.
• We advised on the formation and structuring of The SNP Consortium, a public-private consortium in which The Wellcome Trust, leading global pharmaceutical and IT companies, and several major research universities in the US and UK collaborated to develop a publicly released map of the human genome based on the discovery and classification of single nucleotide polymorphisms.
• In addition to our extensive representation of university spin-out companies in the US, we have represented many European university spin-outs from institutions such as the University of Oxford and the University of Southampton.

Government and Regulatory Affairs

• We have advised both universities and commercial organizations on structuring federal government grants and contracts to maximize their commercialization rights. We are also experienced in grant and contract administration, especially involving cost and proof of genesis of developments.
• We routinely advise clients on the regulatory constraints surrounding research and product development in fields such as biotechnology, biologics and medical devices, and on the increasingly regulated domain of data privacy.
• University clients looking to export their technology turn to us for advice on export controls pertaining to the transfer of technical data to overseas parties and the employment of foreign nationals—such as graduate students—in research conducted in the United States.

Other University Experience

• We successfully settled two high-profile disputes concerning alleged gender discrimination in the denial of tenure at the College of Arts & Sciences and the Law School of an Ivy League university.
• Yale University turned to us for representation in connection with claims against their insurers for liabilities relating to asbestos and lead, as well as insurance coverage assistance on construction and renovation projects and other matters.
• We represented Brown University in connection with a prominent Title IX decision that changed the athletic landscape for private universities. We took up Brown’s appeal of whether a university has the right to determine which sports would enjoy varsity status and which would enjoy club status. Our attorneys succeeded in preserving the university’s right to decide, based on the doctrine of academic freedom.
• Institutions such as Boston University and Northeastern University rely on us for ongoing real estate advice. Our lawyers have extensive experience with university-related real estate transactions, including a complex ground lease and lease back transaction between our client Spaulding & Slye and Johns Hopkins University.