David I. Gindler

“I’m one of those people who tried to take as little science as possible as a student, but became utterly fascinated as a lawyer,” Gindler said. “I’ve got absolutely no background in science.”

It wasn’t until Gindler worked on a case for cancer research institution City of Hope that the light switched on. When he learned that scientists had figured out how to trick common bacteria into making human insulin, “it sounded like science fiction to me, and I thought, this is extraordinary.” The dawn of the biotechnology era was also the dawn of Gindler’s absorption in the intersection between technology, life science, and law.

Prior to that, Gindler’s practice consisted of standard commercial litigation, trade secrets, and general intellectual property litigation. But in 1998, he moved into the direction of life sciences, and work in patent litigation began to dominate his calendar.

Now a top IP lawyer for life science clients, Gindler has worked to protect patents for a noninvasive test that replaces amniocentesis for Ariosa Diagnostics Inc., DNA samples for sequencing at 10X Genomics Inc., and a rheumatoid arthritis treatment for Genentech Inc.

In April, he got a $19.5 million settlement for PDL BioPharma against Merck related to Merck’s Keytruda, a humanized antibody product. “Being able to work for a company like that is literally saving lives makes me feel part of an extraordinary team,” Gindler said.

He has been at Irell & Manella LLP since 1984. “I joined because it has an extraordinary culture of intense intellectual curiosity,” Gindler said. “We never wanted to be big — we wanted to be a collection of people who are intellectually fascinated by their work.”

Gindler’s career path has taught him to expect the unexpected.

“If you told me when I started to practice law that I would specialize in patent litigation in life science, I would have been laughing on the floor, and look what’s happened,” he said. “So have an open mind — it’s important to have an area of practice that you really love.”

— L.J. Williamson