Tara Nealey, Ph.D., J.D.

About The Lecturer

Dr. Tara Nealey chairs the Biotechnology and Life Sciences Patent Prosecution practice group. With a background in academic physiology research, she focuses her practice on clients with intellectual property questions relating to the full range of life science technologies. Her experience encompasses over two decades of IP counsel to clients of all sizes, including individual inventors, public and private universities and research institutions, start-up companies, mid-size firms, and Fortune 500 companies.

Tara has extensive experience guiding clients through the development of robust patent portfolios; guiding international patenting strategy; analyzing patent landscapes and key competitors’ patents; preparing freedom-to-operate (non-infringement) and patent invalidity opinions; analyzing strengths and weaknesses of patent portfolios, and handling IP due diligence in mergers and acquisitions; and analyzing in- and out-licenses of patented technologies. She routinely assists early stage companies with understanding the relevant patent landscape and securing the IP protection necessary for successful rounds of funding. Important aspects of Tara’s practice also include advising on legal aspects of licensing and commercialization strategies as well as reviewing technology and “know-how” licenses, confidentiality agreements, and material transfer agreements. She also counsels clients on trade secret protection and unfair competition along with related copyright and trademark issues.

Tara has worked on a range of cutting edge life science technologies, including:

• Cell-based therapies
• Pharmaceuticals and Medical Treatments
• Biosimilars
• Genome editing techniques including CRISPR systems, meganucleases, TALENs and ZFN’s
• RNAi technologies
• Peptides and proteins
• Fusion (chimeric) proteins
• Recombinant expression systems
• Antibodies
• Vaccines
• Vectors

Publications

December 12, 2022
Legal Education Series - Patent 101
Presenter, TRTCLE

June 22, 2022
St. Louis Business Journal's Most Influential Business Women for 2022
Mentioned, St. Louis Business Journal

September 16, 2020
St. Louis Character: How neuroscientist Tara Nealey found a niche in law
Featured, St. Louis Business Journal (subscription required)

June 24-25, 2019
Polsinelli's Tara A. Nealey, Ph.D. and David W. Clough, Ph.D. to Speak at ACI
Summit on Biosimilars
Speaker, American Conference Institute Summit on Biosimilars

Education

Saint Louis University (J.D., magna cum laude, 2001)

• Dean's Scholarship; Sigma Alpha Nu Honor Society; Order of the Woolsack; Law Review

Harvard Medical School (Postdoctoral Fellowship, 1994)

• Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary

University of Rochester (Ph.D., 1992)

• Physiology; Concentration in Neuroscience

Brown University (A.B., 1984)

• Biomedical Ethics