Former AstraZeneca general counsel for China David Shen has joined Allen & Overy (A&O) in Shanghai as part of the firm’s global IP push.
Shen will join the firm as the leader of the China IP and life sciences practice as a partner following regulatory approval.
He joined AstraZeneca in 2011 and was most recently the multinational pharmaceutical company’s general counsel for China. He started his career working at Bayer Corporation as a research chemist before joining Philadelphia-based law firm Knoble & Yoshida in the patent practice.
Shen is qualified in Pennsylvania, New Jersey and is registered to practice before the US Patent and Trademark office.
A&O global IP head Geert Glas said Shen’s appointment is part of the firm’s long-term global strategy to grow its IP platform.
“As China’s role in the global economy has grown in importance, increasingly many global patent conflicts of a significant and strategic nature have an important China component,” said Victor Ho, the firm’s Asia Pacific head of life sciences.
Last year, the firm hired four IP partners: Mark Heaney, David Stone, Marc Döring and Marjan Noor from Simmons & Simmons in London.
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