ADAM WELLAND focuses his practice on complex intellectual property transactions within all segments of the life sciences industry. He regularly structures and negotiates collaboration, licensing, development, and commercial agreements, and he provides counsel on the intellectual property aspects of mergers, acquisitions, divestitures, and financings. Adam also leverages his background in patent litigation as well as his extensive experience as in-house counsel to provide innovative and actionable advice to life science clients.
Prior to joining Sidley, Adam spent over 14 years as an in-house lawyer for two global biotechnology companies. As vice president of Commercial Legal for Illumina, Inc. (Nasdaq: ILMN), a global leader in DNA sequencing and genomics technologies, Adam led a team responsible for all North American commercial transactions. This included work on key partnerships, collaborations, inbound and outbound patent license agreements, and support for mergers and acquisitions. In 2018–2019, Adam also served as the interim head of Illumina’s Asia Pacific legal team and oversaw all legal matters in the region.
Later, as vice president of Transactions and Partnerships at Altos Labs, Inc., a privately held biotechnology company focused on therapeutics for cellular health, Adam was responsible for transactions on a global basis. He and his team negotiated hundreds of agreements with universities, suppliers, and strategic partners around the world. Since Adam was a very early employee of Altos Labs, he also had the opportunity to help build its contract-related infrastructure and systems from the ground up.
With this industry experience, Adam understands firsthand how transactions are operationalized within a company, how to negotiate deals that set a client up for success post-close, and how to foster most effectively the law firm/client relationship.