Thomas E. Ciotti is a partner and co-founder of the Venture Intellectual Property group, and founder of the biotechnology/chemistry, medical device, and greentech patent groups at Morrison & Foerster LLP. Mr. Ciotti has over 40 years of experience in life sciences intellectual property law and is regularly acknowledged by his peers as one of the top life sciences intellectual property lawyers in the United States. Mr. Ciotti is one of a distinguished group of attorneys who have been listed in The Best Lawyers in America for ten years. He was one of the first biotechnology patent attorneys and represented, and continues to represent, universities and corporations that pioneered the field of biotechnology. For many years Mr. Ciotti’s practice revolved around counseling emerging life science companies, not only in the chemistry/biotech field, but also in the medical device field. In the course of doing so, he has served as principal intellectual property counsel to numerous biotechnology and medical device companies. Due diligence counseling from both the investor and company sides has always been a significant part of his practice. In recent years venture side due diligence has become the mainstay of Mr. Ciotti’s practice and a critical and important part of Morrison & Foerster’s intellectual property practice. With the recent interest in renewable energy/cleantech by the venture capital community, Mr. Ciotti's practice has grown to include those technologies. Mr. Ciotti holds chemical engineering and law degrees from the University of Michigan. He was president of the San Francisco Intellectual Property Law Association and has served as chairman of the Intellectual Property Section of the State Bar of California.