Eric M. Livak Hale, Ph.D., Esq.

I am a San Francisco Bay Area-based lawyer in the biotechnology and start-up space, working as in-house counsel for a group of biotech start-ups. I am a patent attorney with 10+ years of experience in patent prosecution, and a Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering. I lead patent prosecution, trademarks, license negotiations, technology transactions, and other contracts for portfolio companies in *omics (genomics, epigenomics, metagenomics), next-generation sequencing (NGS) library preparation, infectious disease diagnostics, pharmaceuticals, forensics, and consumer products. I am licensed to practice as an attorney in California and admitted to practice before the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

I became an attorney in California after completing the law office study program. Prior to working in law, I defended my Ph.D. in the Department of Chemical Engineering at the University of Michigan. There, I worked in the Burns Lab, developing microfluidic systems for portable health care analysis. I am also a graduate of the Science, Technology, and Public Policy graduate certificate program at the Ford School of Public Policy at the University of Michigan. I earned my bachelor's degree in Chemical Engineering from UCLA.

I live in the San Francisco Bay Area, and was born and raised in Berkeley, California. I lived in Los Angeles for four years, followed by five years in Ann Arbor, Michigan, before returning to the Bay Area. My personal interests include hiking, camping, and backpacking; photography; strategy and tabletop games; disc golf; and cycling.