Partner Stephen M. Goodman, a member of Pryor Cashman’s Corporate Group and co-head of the Mergers and Acquisitions practice, has been appointed Chair of the American Bar Association Science and Technology Law Section’s Biotechnology Law Committee. 

Goodman assumes this position after many years as a board member and editor of The SciTech Lawyer, the section’s publication covering science and technology developments for non-technical attorneys. In announcing the appointment, Cynthia Cwik, Chair of the Section, stated that Goodman’s agreement to assume this position “furthers the Section's mission, which is to provide leadership on emerging issues at the intersection of law, science, and technology, to promote sound policy and public understanding on such issues, and to enhance the professional development of the Section’s members.”

The Biotechnology Committee focuses on research, commercial, regulatory and patent issues that are specific to the life sciences, in clinical medicine (such as gene therapy), forensic medicine (such as DNA fingerprinting), and other areas of the life sciences raising ethical and/or evidentiary issues (such as CRISPR-Cas9 and other gene-editing techniques). The committee follows legal developments likely to impact the life science industry, such as laws and court cases which may limit the availability of products or processes based on biotechnology research or which may affect biotechnology companies’ ability to obtain or control intellectual property arising from their work.