Goodwin Procter has picked up DLA Piper corporate and transactional partner Shane Albright to expand its life science practice in Silicon Valley.

Albright, who spent the past four years at DLA Piper in East Palo Alto, heads to Goodwin Procter's newly relocated office in nearby Redwood City, where he will continue to represent life sciences companies in corporate, financial and transactional matters, with an emphasis on complex transactions involving intellectual property.

“Being a firm that was founded in Boston, Goodwin has amazing inroads here in the Silicon Valley,” said Albright about his new firm's growing presence on the West Coast. “From my perspective, it is a really exciting time to join the team. When things are growing, that is when they are most interesting and you can have the most impact.”

Before graduating from Stanford Law School in 2002, Albright earned his Ph.D. in molecular and cell biology from the University of California, Berkeley. The life science-focused lawyer said that in recent years he has seen the sector increasingly intersect with new technologies.

Shane Albright.

“It's great to see those sort of changes and new technologies cropping up in life sciences, because it means that the legal issues are new [and] it makes for work that is really interesting,” Albright said.

His clients include companies in the biopharmaceutical, diagnostics, digital health, hardware and software, medical device and instrumentation, and vaccine and regent research spaces, as well as entities that fund or conduct medical research.

Albright moved to DLA Piper in July 2014 from Hogan Lovells, having joined the latter as a partner in 2011 after nine years at Cooley, where he rose from associate to partner.

“Shane's vast experience handling complex licensing transactions, mergers and acquisitions, and initial public offerings complements our existing bench and expansion efforts on the West Coast,” said a statement from Mitchell Bloom, a Goodwin Procter partner in Boston and co-chair of the firm's life sciences practice.

Goodwin Procter, which for marketing purposes changed its name to “Goodwin” two years ago as part of a rebranding initiative, now has than 80 partners firmwide in its life sciences practice. That number includes those from other business units whose industry focus is on life sciences clients, according to the firm.

In addition to hiring Albright, Goodwin Procter further bolstered its Silicon Valley office earlier this year by welcoming aboard a pair of private equity partners from Fenwick & West in Scott Joachim and David Johanson. Goodwin Procter, which saw its gross revenue soar in 2017, to $1.03 billion, has also been busy building out its operations elsewhere.

The 909-lawyer firm, which currently has more than 70 lawyers in Redwood City, recently raided Greenberg Traurig for an IP team led by Mark Davis, the former chair of that firm's U.S. International Trade Commission practice. In April, Goodwin Procter bulked up its life sciences group with a team of lawyers from Dechert in Europe, while also adding to its corporate and executive compensation capabilities in Boston and New York.