Douglas Carsten > McDermott Will & Emery LLP > Silicon Valley, United States > Lawyer Profile
McDermott Will & Emery LLP Offices
SUITE 100, 275 MIDDLEFIELD ROAD
MENLO PARK
SILICON VALLEY, CA 94025
CALIFORNIA
United States
Douglas Carsten

Work Department
Intellectual Property
Position
Douglas (Doug) H. Carsten is the co-head of McDermott’s global Intellectual Property Group and focuses his practice on complex patent litigation disputes. He counsels clients in various technology areas, including pharmaceuticals, biologics, medical devices, diagnostic products, retail products, and computer software. Doug has substantial first-chair trial experience that includes litigating high-profile and billion-dollar patent cases.
Please visit McDermott website for full biography: https://www.mwe.com/people/carsten-douglas-h/
Lawyer Rankings
United States > Intellectual property > Patents: litigation (full coverage)
Comprised of ‘highly skilled experts’, McDermott Will & Emery LLP excels in high-stakes competitor disputes for clients, with a particular emphasis on the biotech and pharma sectors. William Gaede, who splits his time between Silicon Valley and San Francisco, has extensive experience trying patent disputes related to antibodies, proteins, small molecules and diagnostics. In Orange County, Douglas Carsten is a key contact for life sciences companies given his expertise in pharma and biologics. Both Sarah Columbia from Boston and Michael Chu from Chicago are strong trial litigators with successful track records in jury and bench trials, as well as appellate proceedings. Thomas Steindler, in Washington DC, is distinguished by his expertise in complex Hatch-Waxman cases, while Shane Nichols, in Atlanta, focuses on patent litigation in the food and beverage, telecoms and petrochemical industries. Other key practitioners include Austin’s Kevin Meek and New York’s Simon Roberts, both of whom are seasoned litigators who handle biotech and high-tech patent infringement.
United States > Healthcare > Life sciences
McDermott Will & Emery LLP advises on IP, regulatory, transactional, and litigation matters relating to life sciences at a national and international level. Its client base includes internationally recognized life sciences companies in healthcare, life sciences, pharma, and biotech. The team advises clients on matters across all phases of product development, with vast experience acting as regulatory counsel in legislative compliance and strategies. The practice stands out for its strong IP experience, including patent building, maintenance, enforcement, and prosecution. It currently represents Alnylam Pharmaceuticals in infringement lawsuits against Moderna and Pfizer/BioNTech regarding their COVID-19 vaccines, with Sarah Chapin Columbia being one of the lead partners. Silicon Valley’s Judy Mohr also serves as IP counsel to QuidelOrtho Corporation regarding corporate transactions and its patent estate. The practice is co-headed by Douglas Carsten and James Ravitz, who focus on intellectual property and FDA regulations, respectively. Kristian Werling, transactions specialist, and Byron Kalogerou, who founded the firm’s life sciences practice, are the firm’s key corporate matters experts. First chair litigator Michael Sitzman joined the practice in November 2024 from DLA Piper LLP (US).
Lawyer Rankings
- Life sciences United States > Healthcare
- Patents: litigation (full coverage) United States > Intellectual property
Top Tier Firm Rankings
- Healthcare > Health insurers
- Healthcare > Life sciences
- M&A/corporate and commercial > M&A: middle-market ($500m-999m)
- Media, technology and telecoms > Outsourcing
- Healthcare > Service providers
- Tax > US taxes: contentious
- Tax > US taxes: non-contentious
Firm Rankings
- Media, technology and telecoms > Cyber law (including data privacy and data protection)
- Labor and employment > Employee benefits, executive compensation and retirement plans: design
- Labor and employment > Employee benefits, executive compensation and retirement plans: transactional
- Energy > Energy regulation: electric power
- Tax > Financial products
- Labor and employment > Immigration
- Tax > International tax
- Dispute resolution > Product liability, mass tort and class action - defense: toxic tort
- Energy > Renewable/alternative power
- Intellectual property > Trademarks: non-contentious (including prosecution, portfolio management and licensing)
- Labor and employment > Workplace and employment counseling
- Insurance > Advice to insurers
- Dispute resolution > Appellate: courts of appeals / Appellate: supreme courts (states and federal)
- Labor and employment > ERISA litigation
- Dispute resolution > General commercial disputes
- Government > Government contracts
- Insurance > Insurance: non-contentious
- Labor and employment > Labor and employment disputes (including collective actions)
- Labor and employment > Labor-management relations
- Intellectual property > Patents: litigation (full coverage)
- Intellectual property > Patents: prosecution (including re-examination and post-grant proceedings)
- Real estate > Real estate finance
- Dispute resolution > Securities litigation: defense
- Finance > Capital markets: equity offerings
- Antitrust > Cartel
- Antitrust > Civil litigation/class actions: defense
- Energy > Energy transactions: electric power
- Energy > Energy transactions: oil and gas
- Finance > Fintech
- Antitrust > Merger control
- Finance > Restructuring (including bankruptcy): corporate
- Finance > Structured finance: derivatives and structured products
- Finance > Commercial lending
- Dispute resolution > International arbitration
- M&A/corporate and commercial > Private equity buyouts: large deals ($500m+)
- Investment fund formation and management > Private equity funds (including venture capital)
- Real estate > Real estate
- Dispute resolution > Corporate investigations and white-collar criminal defense