Deborah Fishman

Deborah Fishman was initially a biology major in college, before pivoting towards law, unsure of how she would integrate her scientific knowledge. Her first foray into environmental litigation during her first year of law school didn't resonate with her passion.

"I spent my summer working in patent litigation across a number of technology and really liked it, but ended up looking for a 3L clerkship (and job after law school) at a Bay Area firm that had a well-known biotech patent litigation practice," Fishman said.

She said her most standout mentor was Craig Casebeer, founding partner of Day Casebeer Madrid & Batchelder, the small litigation boutique where she spent the first 10 and most formative years of her career.

"He taught me how to be a litigator and a stand-up lawyer and, as importantly, how to build a team, play to people's strengths, develop relationships, and have fun while doing challenging things," Fishman said. "He retired from the practice of law in 2007 and I still miss practicing with him."

One of the highlights of Fishman's career was her involvement in the landmark Amgen v. Sanofi case. This case was pivotal, dealing with patent claims directed to a genus of antibodies and their functions, particularly binding to PCSK9. Despite joining the case as remand counsel, where a significant portion of the record was already against her clients, Sanofi and Regeneron, Fishman and her team managed to invalidate Amgen's patents in post-trial proceedings. Their victory was not only upheld on appeal to the Federal Circuit but also affirmed unanimously by the Supreme Court.

"The Amgen v. Sanofi case represents the first time the Supreme Court weighed in on the law of enablement in more than 100 years and was personally significant in that it was the first patent case that I have had that made it all the way through argument and decision at the Supreme Court," she said.

In addition, Fishman said certain probative evidence was excluded by the district court (showing Amgen's failures to obtain particular antibodies within the scope of the claims), which her team fought to get into the record, but ultimately some of that evidence was excluded from trial.

"Last but not least, trying enablement and written description defenses to a jury is a very challenging uphill battle," She said. "We made a very strong showing and successfully invalidated certain claims, but ultimately, we had to rely on the record of fact and expert testimony and evidence adduced on remand to prevail as a matter of law before the Court on JMOL."

Fishman's strategic legal mind and her ability to navigate complex patent litigation have made her a formidable figure in the legal field, particularly in cases that intertwine with her technical background in biology.