Ariel Soiffer

Practice Areas

Ariel Soiffer advises clients on complex technology transactions and strategic legal issues at the intersection of innovation and business. As chair of WilmerHale’s AI Technology Transactions Practice, Ariel helps organizations navigate the transformative impact of artificial intelligence across industries, including financial services, life sciences, content licensing, and healthcare.

Drawing on prior experience as a management consultant, Ariel delivers practical, business-focused solutions to legal challenges. He represents clients in their most significant and sophisticated transactions, including outsourcing arrangements, joint development initiatives, and intellectual property licensing. His practice spans cutting-edge areas such as artificial intelligence and machine learning, fintech, life sciences collaborations, privacy and cybersecurity, complex commercial agreements, logistics and Uniform Commercial Code matters, international transactions, and trade secret protection. Ariel also advises on term sheets, RFPs, competitive bid analyses, and IP-related agreements.

Committed to public service, Ariel maintains an active pro bono practice and has been recognized on the Massachusetts Pro Bono High Honor Roll or Honor Roll every year since 2019. His pro bono work includes advising on healthcare data licensing, standards development, and international and domestic media and entertainment transactions.

Career

In 2009–2010, Mr. Soiffer won the ABA Law Students Division National Negotiation Competition.

Prior to joining the firm, Mr. Soiffer was a legal intern for the Massachusetts Department of Telecommunications and Cable.

Before attending law school, Mr. Soiffer was a senior manager at Diamond Management & Technology Consultants (now part of PricewaterhouseCoopers). While there, he had ultimate responsibility for several projects, leading presentations to members of the CxO suite on topics of strategic concern. Mr. Soiffer’s consulting work focused on data analytics, business strategy, marketing and customer service.

Mr. Soiffer also served as a summer research and development intern for Takeda Life Sciences Research Center in Ako, Japan.

Professional Memberships

Mr. Soiffer is a member of the Licensing Executives Society.

Publications

Primates and Processors: Authorship of Non-Human Authors from Monkey Selfies to Generative AI - Intellectual Property & Technology Law Journal

Service Agreement Lessons from July's Global Tech Outage - Law360

Copyright Fair Use Regulatory Approaches in AI Content Generation - Tech Policy Press

Experience

Technology Transactions

Represents Analog Devices, a major semiconductor company, in the negotiation of various research, development, supply or commercialization agreements.

Represents Spatial Networks, a leader in geospatial data collection and analysis in developing and refining its standard customer agreement, negotiating a major customer agreement and advising on an agreement with a major data licensor.

Represents Esme Learning Solutions, which provides professional development courses from top-tier universities, in negotiating collaboration agreements with universities and distribution and commercialization agreements.

Represents True Tickets, which uses technology (including blockchain-based technology) to enable transactions in tickets, in developing its standard commercial agreements, negotiating its customer agreements and negotiating vendor agreements.

Life Sciences Transactions

Represented Translate Bio in its mRNA vaccine collaboration with Sanofi Pasteur, the vaccines global business unit of Sanofi, and later advised on amendments to add development of a novel mRNA vaccine for COVID-19.

Represents a major computational biotechnology company in various licensing and commercial transactions in connection with its scientific research and drug development activities.

Represents Cell Signaling Technology, which researches biomarkers and develops and commercializes antibodies and related technology, in various commercial and licensing transactions, including a license agreement with Biocartis.

Represented a major pharmaceutical company in the settlement and renegotiation of a major license agreement.

Represented a biotechnology company in negotiating its contract research outsourcing relationships and dozens of clinical trial agreements.

Represented Asklepios Biopharmaceutical in licensing and intellectual property aspects of the formation of its joint venture with Touchlight Genetics to form Touchlight AAV.

Machine Learning/Artificial Intelligence

Represented ZebiAI Therapeutics, which applied machine learning to small molecule drug discovery, in its formative license and collaboration agreement with X-Chem, a DNA-encoded library provider; developing its commercial and licensing relationships; negotiating research, commercial and licensing relationships; and the sale of ZebiAI Therapeutics to Relay Therapeutics for $85 million up-front and up to $185 million of contingent consideration.

Represents a major computational biotechnology company in the negotiation of various agreements to obtain DNA-encoded library data for use in development of machine learning for use in drug discovery.

Represented DeepHealth, which applied machine learning to radiological scans, in its first agreement to in-license imaging data for use in developing its service.

Represented a major biotechnology company in negotiating agreements to apply machine learning to clinical trial data.

Financial/Financial Technology

Represented a major financial institution in a transaction that involves the development of an outsourced trading platform (for “dark pools”) provided by Nasdaq.

Represents a major financial technology company in negotiating Paycheck Protection Program loan agreements opposite multiple banks.

Represents a major financial institution in the negotiation or renegotiation of various research distribution agreements, including with Bloomberg, AlphaSense and others.

Represented TIAA in the negotiation of a development and SAAS agreement for a wealth management platform and in the developing of a trading platform.

Privacy or Cybersecurity

Represents Inpher, a financial technology company specializing in privacy-preserving data analytics for financial institutions in developing its standard commercial agreements and negotiating a major license and collaboration agreement with a major international bank.

Represents Nth Party, a pioneer in performing data analysis on encrypted data without decrypting such data in its formation, and in developing its standard term sheet and collaboration agreements.

Represented Cellebrite’s US subsidiary in a wide variety of sales and licensing transactions, developing forms for licensing of software and leases of products and negotiating numerous commercial agreements with major telecommunications providers, as well as advising on privacy and cybersecurity legal questions related to Cellebrite’s forensics business.

Advised a client in relation to a ransomware attack.

Outsourcing/Complex Commercial Transactions

Represents a travel services company in the negotiation of the first US-Mexico ultra-low cost carrier airline alliance.

Represented a global investment bank in development of a SAAS-based wealth management platform.

Represented McGraw-Hill Education in relation to IT outsourcing, call center outsourcing, legal process outsourcing and complex software and commercial transactions.

Represented Cincinnati Bell in relation to IT outsourcing and call center outsourcing.

Represented a global investment bank in a major IT outsourcing transaction.

Represented a high-growth logistics startup in a call center outsourcing transaction with a transportation platform to provide outsourced support to delivery drivers, as well as a transaction to outsource payroll processing.

Participated in the formation of Tri-Institutional Therapeutics Discovery Institute, a collaboration among Weill Cornell Medical College, The Rockefeller Institute and Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, including in negotiations for an agreement with Takeda.

Logistics and UCC

Represents Analog Devices, a major semiconductor manufacturer, in its warehousing and logistics transactions, including a major warehouse agreement in Singapore.

Represented McGraw-Hill Education in developing and negotiating its worldwide warehouse agreements, negotiating agreements in the United States of America, South America, Europe and Asia.

Represented AxleHire, a high-growth logistics startup, in developing its standard customer agreement, negotiating high-value customer agreements and negotiating a collaboration agreement with a rideshare provider.

Represented Medtronic in developing its standard warehouse agreement and in relation to uniform commercial code matters.

International Transactions

Represented Forendo Pharma, a biotechnology company focused on women’s health based in Finland, in its sale to Organon for $75 million upfront and up to $870 million of contingent consideration.

Represents a European manufacturer of Vitamin K2 in a major sales agreement with an American purchaser, as well in various commercial transactions.

Represented McGraw-Hill Education in developing and negotiating its worldwide warehouse agreements, negotiating agreements in the United States of America, South America, Europe and Asia.

Trade Secrets

Represented a developer of medical devices in developing its trade secret policy.

Represented Vedanta Biosciences, a microbiome-focused biotechnology company, in developing a trade secret policy and trade secret aspects of development agreements.

Represented a major pharmaceutical company in developing an extremely protective agreement for the protection of very important trade secrets.

Pro Bono Advice

Represents an international consortium for healthcare improvement, which develops healthcare standards measurements, in negotiating major grant agreements from Philips, Medtronic and others, in developing terms for its annual conference and adapting those terms for a virtual conference and negotiating numerous agreements for development or commercialization of standard sets.

Represents Pioneer Institute in the formation of PioneerLegal, its non-profit law firm, as well in licensing in economic data relating to Massachusetts and producing a movie relating to school choice.

Represents a lung cancer research foundation in negotiating agreements regarding patient data, social media and various other matters.

Awards

Languages Spoken

French

Japanese

Spanish

Education