Reed Smith announced that Sarah Thompson Schick and Mattias Luukkonen have joined the firm’s Life Sciences Health Industry Group as counsel. Schick, based in Houston, has a broad scope of experience advising life science companies on U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulatory and compliance issues. Luukkonen has significant life sciences transactional experience and is stationed in the firm’s new Orange County office.
“Mattias and Sarah both bring in-house experience, which gives them unique insight into the issues facing our clients,” said Scot Hasselman, co-head of the firm’s Life Sciences Health Industry group. “Mattias’s in-house background in private tech and biopharma companies, as well as his scientific background, provides him with critical understanding of our clients’ business needs. Sarah’s experience in the biopharmaceutical and health care industries brings additional depth and inside knowledge to our FDA regulatory capabilities.”
Prior to joining Reed Smith, Schick practiced law at DLA Piper and Hogan Lovells. Before that, she was in-house counsel for a biopharmaceutical company and in the legal department of a large hospital system in Texas. She advises life sciences companies on FDA regulatory and compliance issues, including pharmacovigilance, Good Clinical Practice and clinical trials, advertising and promotion, medical communications, registration and reporting for ClinicalTrials.gov, and Good Manufacturing Practice. She also provides counsel on product development and approval, contractual issues, and risk and compliance, and frequently serves as a regulatory specialist for M&A, capital markets transactions, securities disclosures, internal investigations and litigation matters. She earned her B.S. and M.S. degrees from George Mason University, and her J.D. from University of Virginia School of Law.
Luukkonen represents life sciences companies and start-ups on intellectual property and commercial transactions as well as on a wide range of complex and cross-border transactional matters, including mergers, acquisitions, and venture capital financings. Prior to joining Reed Smith, he practiced law at DLA Piper. Before that, he served as general counsel for a forensic DNA technology company, and was the chief legal officer at a privately held biopharma company. Before attending law school, he was a molecular biologist and did post-doctoral training at a leading drug company. He earned his B.S. from Lund University, and his M.S. and Ph.D. from Karolinska Institute. After earning his J.D. (summa cum laude) from Thomas Jefferson University School of Law, he was a clerk for the Hon. Barry T. Moskowitz at the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California.
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