Bob Licht Joins Choate as a Partner in Life Sciences Group

Choate today announced thatBob Licht,formerly Senior Vice President and Chief Corporation Counsel at Biogen Inc., has joined the firm as a Partner in its Life Sciences Group.  Licht has over 22 years of experience as an in-house counsel at major companies across the region.

During his eight-year tenure at Nasdaq-listed Biogen, Mr. Licht was responsible for legal support for the company’s corporate governance, securities law compliance and disclosure, finance and investor relations, business development including collaboration and licensing agreements, as well as public affairs, manufacturing, quality and supply chain matters, information technology, and real estate and environmental law.

“We are very excited that Bob has joined our preeminent Life Sciences practice.  He is an important lateral hire who brings a wealth of high-level experience in the life sciences industry to our nationally recognized team,” said Bill Gelnaw, co-managing partner at Choate.  “Our clients will greatly benefit from his extensive industry expertise, keen problem solving abilities and strong leadership skills.  He is a perfect addition to our growing Life Sciences practice.”

As a partner in the Life Sciences Group at Choate, Mr. Licht will focus on advising life sciences clients on corporate matters, including legal support and advice in connection with the research, development and commercialization of pharmaceutical products, as well as merger and acquisition and financial transactions; representing life sciences companies in structuring and negotiating strategic transactions such as joint ventures, collaborations and intellectual property licenses; and advising boards of directors and senior management teams on sensitive corporate governance and disclosure issues.  

While at Biogen, Mr. Licht helped to structure, negotiate and close a broad range of financing, collaboration, licensing and acquisition transactions including: a $3 billion Dutch auction share repurchase; a $1 billion senior unsecured public debt offering; monetization of the royalty stream from a marketed lupus medication; the $3.2 billion acquisition of the collaborator’s interest in a drug development and commercialization agreement; two collaboration and IP licensing agreements for development of drug candidates for Alzheimer’s disease; and a biosimilar joint venture arrangement.

“Choate has a reputation as one of the top law firms in the life sciences area.  They understand the industry from every angle – bringing deep scientific knowledge to their vast expertise in complex financing, IP, licensing and corporate governance,” said Mr. Licht.  “This is the firm and team that I want to work with.  I look forward to putting my years of experience at Biogen and other major companies to work for Choate’s impressive roster of life science clients.”

Mr. Licht received his JD, magna cum laude, from Harvard Law School in 1978, where he was an editor of the Harvard Law Review, and his BA, with distinction, from Cornell University in 1975.