Practice Areas
Advertising, Media & Entertainment Practice
Copyright
IP Transactions, Agreements & Venture Capital
Litigation
Patent Strategy & Prosecution
Trademark & Brand Protection
Career
Salima Merani, Ph.D. is the Co-Chair of the firm’s Medical Device Group. Salima has over 25 years of experience leading high-stakes transactions and building patent portfolios for global life sciences companies, including medtech, biopharma, and biotech companies. She also has extensive experience in conducting complex patent due diligence for investors. Recognized in prestigious publications as “a great strategic advisor with a proven track record” and deemed “a favorite of venture capitalists,” Salima has been lead IP counsel in numerous successful funding rounds, mergers, and acquisitions. Internationally recognized as a visionary and highly strategic counselor, Salima is on the Advisory Board of Vesana Capital, and serves as an advisor and mentor to several tech CEOs and other executives, in-house counsel and venture capitalists.
As an influential trailblazer in the industry, Salima’s unique business-focused approach to IP law provides an invaluable perspective to both investors and emerging growth companies with her wide-ranging experience in US and international patent and trademark portfolio management, licensing, strategic offensive positioning, enforcement, IPOs, acquisitions, and global IP risk mitigation.
With her impressive technical background and doctorate degree, Salima has successfully guided companies in the fields of dermatology, orthopedics, cardiovascular, gynecology, urology, oncology, and neurology. She has extensive experience with surgical implants, drug-device combinations, neurostimulation, medical imaging, nerve denervation, tissue ablation, regenerative technology, hypertension, stroke, diabetes, ultrasound, nutraceuticals, cosmetic formulations, and aesthetics. Clients consistently praise Salima for her extraordinary negotiation skills and fearless support of their companies.
Salima has received multiple awards and has been honored in both national and international forums for her significant legal accomplishments. Her stellar reputation has been repeatedly recognized in Chambers, where she is doubly ranked in both the Patent Prosecution and Life Sciences: IP/Patent Litigation categories and where clients have noted that “Salima has been phenomenal, she is the best I’ve worked with. She’s very strategic, has unique capability, looks at the big picture and can be extremely detail-oriented.” Salima was named “Life Sciences Lawyer of the Year” by LMG Life Sciences and was recently inducted to the Legal 500’s “Hall of Fame”. She has been lauded as an IP Star by Managing Intellectual Property, which also honored her in their global “Top 250 Women in IP” list. She was the recipient of the coveted “Client Choice Award” for Intellectual Property (Patents, California) by International Law Office (ILO). Legal Media Group named her “Patent Prosecution Attorney of the Year” in the “LMG Life Sciences Annual Awards”. She was featured in The National Law Journal’s “IP Hot List” and named a “Life Sciences Trailblazer”. In Intellectual Asset Management‘s “IAM Patent 1000” lists, Salima was praised for her skills in brokering blockbuster life sciences deals and described as “a true global leader in medical device patenting.” Salima was also honored in the “Life Sciences” survey for Intellectual Property, The Recorder‘s list of Women Leaders in Tech Law, and the Daily Journal‘s list of the Top IP Lawyers in California and Top Women Lawyers. Salima has been recognized in the Daily Journal‘s list of the Top Intellectual Property Attorneys, where she was identified among the Top 25 Portfolio Managers & Patent Prosecutors of Intellectual Property. Salima’s numerous accomplishments are detailed in the Recognition section.
Salima is past Vice Chair of the AIPLA (American Intellectual Property Law Association) USPTO Inter Partes Patent Proceedings Committee. She also served on the AIPLA’s Special Task Force on AIA (America Invents Act) Rulemaking. Salima is also a founding member of the Firm’s USPTO Trials and Post Grant Proceedings Practice Group, and has represented clients in multiple patent disputes before the USPTO and international patent and trademark offices.
