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The 27th Annual Berkeley-Stanford Advanced Patent Law Institute

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Morrison Foerster is proud to once again sponsor the Berkeley-Stanford Advanced Patent Law Institute (APLI), a premier patent law program, now in its 27th year, bringing together leading academics, litigators, patent prosecutors, senior in-house IP counsel, and judges for a timely, in-depth look at the latest developments shaping patent law and practice.This year, MoFo partners Alex Yap and Shannon Reaney will participate in the Institute’s prosecution-focused programming. Alex will speak on “The Return of Reexam: Advanced Petition Practice,” while Shannon will join “Appeal or Continue? Rethinking Final-Rejection Strategy.”For additional details and the full program, please visit the <a href="https://www.law.berkeley.edu/research/bclt/bcltevents/27th-annual-berkeley-stanford-advanced-patent-law-institute/" target="_blank">event page</a>.<hr>

The 27th Annual Berkeley-Stanford Advanced Patent Law Institute

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Shannon Reaney, Ph.D., is a seasoned patent attorney with over 20 years of experience specializing in life sciences intellectual property law. As chair of the firm’s 100+ person Patent Strategy + Prosecution practice and co-chair of the cross-disciplinary Intellectual Property Group, Shannon provides strategic patent counsel to pharmaceutical, biotechnology, cosmetics, and agricultural companies worldwide. She excels in patent portfolio development, prosecution, and management, helping innovators protect and maximize the value of their intellectual property assets.Shannon’s advanced scientific training and extensive legal experience enable her to deliver comprehensive patent strategy and prosecution services across a broad spectrum of life sciences technologies, including:<ul><li>Pre-clinical and clinical-stage therapeutics, including small molecules, siRNA, peptide therapeutics, conjugates, blood-based therapies, and related diagnostics, pharmaceutical formulations, and methods of use.</li><li>Nanotechnology.</li><li>Skin care technology and topical formulations.</li><li>Agricultural technologies.</li></ul>In addition to her extensive experience in patent strategy and prosecution, Shannon is highly regarded for her work in:<ul><li>Patent term extensions & lifecycle management for approved drugs and biologics.</li><li>IP risk mitigation, pre-litigation portfolio assessments, and competitor IP evaluation.</li><li>Due diligence and strategic counseling for business transactions including financings and M&A.</li></ul>Shannon received her Ph.D. in chemistry from the University of California, Santa Cruz, where her doctoral research concentrated on synthetic organic methodology and the use of lithium aminoborohydrides in novel hydride and amine transfer reactions. She received her B.A. in biochemistry from Occidental College, where she conducted undergraduate research investigating psoralen-DNA intercalation.Shannon has authored several first-author publications in peer-reviewed journals and presented her research at major conferences, including those sponsored by the American Chemical Society and the IUPAC World Chemistry Congress.

Shannon Reaney

Partner

Alex Yap co-chairs the firm’s Post-Grant Strategy + Disputes practice and is a member of Morrison Foerster’s IP Litigation practice. As a former administrative patent law judge at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), he helps clients navigate post-grant adversarial proceedings before the PTAB. He focuses his practice on America Invents Act trials before the PTAB, as well as IP litigation matters.Prior to rejoining the firm, Alex served as an administrative patent judge at the USPTO in San Jose, California. In that capacity, he presided over more than 200 ex parte appeals, inter partes reviews, and covered business method patent proceedings.Utilizing his electrical and computer engineering degrees and experience from senior engineering roles, Alex spent 11 years at MoFo advising technology clients on patent litigations. During that time, he was involved in more than 30 USPTO reexamination/review proceedings and obtained cancellations of asserted claims in numerous cases.Prior to becoming a lawyer, Alex spent more than four years as a circuit design engineer for Freescale (formerly Motorola, Inc.) and Analog Devices, Inc., designing embedded non-volatile (flash) memories and asymmetric digital subscriber line chipsets. During that time, he developed extensive expertise in computer hardware and software architecture, communication systems, digital and analog circuit design, and digital signal processing. He has published numerous technical articles in trade journals and is an inventor on multiple U.S. patents.Alex received his B.S. and M.S. in electrical and computer engineering from the University of Wisconsin, Madison, in 1993 and 1998, respectively, and his J.D., magna cum laude, from the University of Minnesota Law School in 2005. He was an editor of The Minnesota Law Review and was elected to the Order of the Coif.Alex is a member of the California State Bar and is registered to practice before the USPTO. He is also a member of the American Association of Patent Judges.

Alex Yap

Patent Strategy + Prosecution

Post-Grant Strategy + Disputes

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The 27th Annual Berkeley-Stanford Advanced Patent Law Institute

03 Dec 2026 - 04 Dec 2026