Wesley Derrick
Wesley Derrick
Finnegan, Henderson, Farabow, Garrett & Dunner, LLP
3300 Hillview Avenue
Palo Alto, CA 94304-1203
USA
Wes Derrick is a member of the Chemical/Metallurgical Practice Group at the Palo Alto, CA office of Finnegan, Henderson, Farabow, Garrett & Dunner, LLP. His practice includes litigation, prosecution, and opinion work in the biotechnology, chemical, and pharmaceutical areas.
Dr. Derrick has expertise in a wide range of biochemical and chemical technologies, particularly in nucleic acid chemistry. He earned an M.S. in Biochemistry for his work studying the structure and function of transfer RNA and was awarded a Ph.D. in Chemistry from the University of Colorado, Boulder, for his work on the catalytic mechanism of the hammerhead ribozyme. Dr. Derrick has also spoken on unique aspects of combinatorial therapeutics at a national meeting of the American Chemical Society.
Prior to law school, Dr. Derrick gained significant legal experience while working as a patent agent at an intellectual property law firm in Atlanta, Georgia.
While in law school, Dr. Derrick served on Boalt Hall’s Moot Court Board as Off-Campus Competition Co-Director and on the Berkeley Technology Law Journal in various roles. He also served as a teaching assistant for Boalt Hall’s first year Legal Research & Writing and Written & Oral Advocacy Courses and externed for the Honorable Jeffrey S. White of the United States District Court for the Northern District of California.
Dr. Derrick is admitted to the bar in California, and is registered to practice before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. He is a graduate of the University of California at Berkeley, Boalt Hall School of Law (J.D., 2006), the University of Colorado, Boulder (Ph.D., Chemistry, 1999), Iowa State University (M.S., Biochemistry, 1992), and Iowa State University (B.S., with distinction, Biochemistry, 1991).
Publications:
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Coauthor, “Hammerhead cleavage of the phosphorodithioate linkage” ,
Biochemistry,
2000
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Coauthor, “Synthetase recognition determinants of E. coli valine transfer RNA” ,
Biochemistry,
1999
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Coauthor, “Evidence for the role of solvated metal hydroxide in the hammerhead cleavage mechanism” ,
Biochemistry,
1993