Cooley LLP announced today that DeAnna D. Allen has joined the firm as a partner in its Washington, DC office. Allen, most recently a partner of Dickstein Shapiro LLP, is an intellectual property practitioner with a particular focus on patent litigation, along with significant patent prosecution experience. She also counsels clients in a variety of industries on matters relating to wireless and wired communication technologies. Prior to practicing with Dickstein Shapiro, Allen served as in-house counsel to Burger King Brands.
“DeAnna’s arrival further escalates the momentum within a national IP practice that has never been busier,” said Frank Pietrantonio, the national head of Cooley’s IPpractice and Partner-in-Charge of the firm’s Reston, VA office. “Her past in-house experience provides an even greater dimension to her broad skill set and experience. She will be an asset to our firmwide patent litigation and general IP capability, as well as a welcome addition to our burgeoning Metro DC capabilities.”
“I am thrilled to be joining the Cooley IP team, which is one of the strongest in the country,” Allen said. “I look forward to collaborating with colleagues across the firm in delivering strategic and business-savvy IP to clients who are defining the future course of technology both nationally and globally.”
Cooley’s IP group, comprised of approximately 110 lawyers and 50 other professionals, represents many of the world’s leading technology and life sciences companies. The group was recognized in May 2012 by National Law Journal in its first-ever “IP Hot List” of the elite national IP legal practices among US law firms.
Allen’s arrival at Cooley coincides with that of New York-based IP partner Joseph M. Drayton, who joins Cooley from Kaye Scholer. Allen is co-chair of the Diversity Subcommittee to the American Bar Association Sector of Litigation IP Committee, and is an Executive Board member and Diversity Committee chair of the National Association of Women Lawyers. She has won numerous accolades for her litigation skills, leadership in the IP sector and her championing of diversity issues.
Allen received her JD, cum laude, from the University of Miami School of Law and earned a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from the University of Maryland. Prior to attending law school, Allen was an instrumentation and control design engineer for Florida Power and Light.
