Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati Expands China Life Sciences Practice

PALO ALTO, Calif., March 24 /PRNewswire/ -- Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, the premier provider of legal services to technology, life sciences, and growth enterprises worldwide, today announced that it has hired Wei Zhou as a partner. He will focus on corporate and intellectual property issues facing life sciences companies in the United States and China, and will divide his time between the firm's Palo Alto and Shanghai offices. Zhou joins the firm from Affymetrix, Inc., where he served as a vice president and general manager of the company's China operations.

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"We are very pleased to welcome Wei to the firm," said CEO John Roos. "Life sciences, intellectual property, and the China market all represent great potential for the firm, and Wei is uniquely positioned at the convergence of these key opportunities."

"The growth of life sciences is one of the big stories emerging out of China today," said Carmen Chang, leader of the firm's China practice. "The life sciences and intellectual property expertise Wei gained at Affymetrix makes him uniquely qualified to help companies expand into China and to help Chinese companies expand their businesses and partnerships in the United States."

During his tenure at Affymetrix, Zhou made significant contributions to the company's patent portfolio and completed numerous scientific collaborations and partnering agreements, technology licensing agreements, commercial arrangements, and acquisitions. In China, he led a team tasked with formulating and implementing business operations strategy within the country and successfully established relationships with diverse government agencies, research institutes, and commercial entities.

Prior to joining Affymetrix, Zhou was an attorney at Pennie & Edmonds in Palo Alto, where he focused on the fields of pharmaceutical compounds, biotechnology, bioinformatics, immunology, functional genomics, drug-discovery processes, and computer software. Prior to embarking on his legal career, Zhou was a postdoctoral fellow in molecular and cellular gastroenterology at Emory University Medical School. He earned his J.D. from Stanford Law School in 1998, a Ph.D. in animal science from Virginia Tech in 1992, an M.S. in animal physiology and biochemistry from Zhejiang University in 1987, and a B.S. in animal science from Zhejiang University in 1982. He graduated from Harvard Business School's General Management Program in 2007.

About Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati's Life Sciences Practice

Zhou joins a thriving life sciences and intellectual property practice, with senior leadership from key partners including Ken Clark, Casey McGlynn, and Vern Norviel. To date, the team has represented more than 400 companies in biotechnology, pharmaceuticals, biopharmaceuticals, drug-discovery technology, genomics, medical devices, diagnostics, and healthcare services. Our attorneys have counseled life sciences clients on the structure of major corporate collaborations and assisted them in more than 80 public offerings in the past decade alone. The firm regularly advises companies on both public and private equity and debt financings, mergers and acquisitions, and research and development financings, as well as day-to-day securities and corporate governance matters. In addition, it maintains a formidable team of IP attorneys led by industry veterans with significant experience securing and defending patent positions. The firm also offers a dedicated healthcare regulatory law practice to help life sciences clients successfully navigate complex regulatory mazes, secure timely approvals, and comply with strictly enforced regulatory laws in the U.S. and international markets.

About Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati

Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati's broad range of services and legal disciplines is focused on serving the principal challenges faced by the management and boards of directors of business enterprises. The firm is nationally recognized as a leader in the fields of corporate governance and finance, mergers and acquisitions, private equity, securities class action litigation, employment law, intellectual property, and antitrust, among many other areas of law. With long-standing roots in Silicon Valley, Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati has offices in Austin, New York, Palo Alto, San Diego, San Francisco, Seattle, Shanghai, and Washington, D.C. For additional information, please visit http://www.wsgr.com.