Daniel E. Rees

Latham & Watkins was honored with five awards from LMG Life Sciences, which highlight the best in practice in the industry following a thorough survey of the life sciences sector. The awards are regarded as one of the industry’s top programs and Latham has been recognized every year since their inception in 2012. This honor builds upon the five EMEA LMG Life Sciences Awards the team earned earlier this year. This year our healthcare and life sciences team was honored with the following: Impact Deal of the Year — Latham was honored for representing Prometheus Biosciences, a clinical-stage biotechnology company, in its US$10.8 billion acquisition by Merck. The award-winning deal was led by partners Daniel Rees, Matt Bush, and Cheston Larson. Patent Impact Case of Year — Latham achieved a significant win for our client Avadel, a specialty pharma company, in Jazz Pharmaceuticals v Avadel CNS Pharmaceuticals (CAFC 2023). The Federal Circuit — for the first time ever — affirmed a district court decision ordering a party to request that the FDA delist a patent from the Orange Book. The case was led by partners Kenneth Schuler and Marc Zubick. Post-Grant Proceedings Attorney of the Year — Global Vice Chair of the firm’s Healthcare & Life Sciences Industry Group, New York partner Arlene Lee Chow was recognized for her work representing an array of pharma/biotech clients in post-grant proceedings. General Patent Litigator of the Year: Midwest — A seasoned patent litigator, Chicago partner Kenneth Schuler was honored for his body of work, including co-leading the award-winning Patent Impact Case of the Year. Appellate Litigator of the Year: Intellectual Property — Head of the firm’s IP appellate practice, Washington, D.C. partner Gabriel Bell was recognized for his work for client Avadel on a precedent-setting appeal in the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit arising from Avadel’s ongoing patent litigation defense and antitrust counterclaims against Jazz Pharmaceuticals. Latham and its attorneys were also on the shortlist in a number of other categories, including: Life Cycle Firm of the Year, Corporate Firm of the Year, M&A Firm of the Year, General Patent Litigation Firm of the Year, Corporate Attorney of the Year — Cheston Larson, M&A Attorney of the Year — Scott Shean, Licensing & Collaboration Attorney of the Year — Judith Hasko, and General Patent Litigator of the Year — DC Metro — Mike Morin. LMG Life Sciences is the definitive guide to leading North American law firms and lawyers specialized in the life sciences industry. In the US, it focuses its surveys on four main practice areas: Regulatory; Intellectual Property; Financial & Corporate; and Non-IP Litigation & Enforcement. The LMG Life Sciences Awards are determined through rigorous research including firm submissions, practitioner surveys, client feedback, and independent research.~~

Sep 12

2 min

CoStar Group, Inc. (NASDAQ: CSGP), a leading provider of online real estate marketplaces, information, and analytics in the property markets has announced that it has reached a definitive agreement to acquire all outstanding shares of Matterport, the global leader in immersive 3D digital twins and artificial intelligence for the real estate industry that makes properties intuitive and interactive online in a cash and stock transaction valued at US$5.50 per share reflecting an estimated US$2.1 billion of equity value and US$1.6 billion of enterprise value. Under the terms and subject to the conditions of the agreement, Matterport stockholders will receive US$2.75 in cash and US$2.75 in shares of CoStar Group common stock for each share of Matterport common stock. Latham is advising CoStar in the acquisition with a corporate deal team led by Orange County partners Daniel Rees and Charles Ruck, with associates Shannon Cheng, Abby Timmons, AJ Hines, and Amy Lutfi. Advice was also provided on benefits and compensation matters by Washington, D.C. partners David Della Rocca and Nikhil Kumar, with associates Dane Rebkowec and Juliet Rognlie; on intellectual property matters by Washington, D.C. partner Morgan Brubaker, and Bay Area partners Gregory Sobolski and Richard Frenkel, with associates Pelin Serpin and Kellye Quirk; on tax matters by Washington, D.C. partner Andrea Ramezan-Jackson, with associates Christina McLeod, and Emmanuel Kassim; on US antitrust matters by Washington, D.C. partners Amanda Reeves and Farrell Malone, with associate Matthew Piehl; on non-US antitrust matters by Brussels partner Wesley Lepla, with associate Jamie Mansour; on data privacy matters by Bay Area partner Robert Blamires, with associates Calum Docherty, Kiara Vaughn, and Victoria Wan; on labor and employment matters by New York counsel Sandra Benjamin; on litigation matters by Washington, D.C. partner Nick Boyle and Orange County partner Andrew Gray, with associate Kehaulani Jai; and on trade control matters by Washington, D.C. counsel Ruchi Gill, with associate Sara Castiglia.~~

Apr 22

1 min

Nevro Corp. (NYSE: NVRO), a global medical device company that is delivering comprehensive, life-changing solutions for the treatment of chronic pain, has announced it has acquired Vyrsa Technologies, a privately held medical technology company focused on a minimally invasive treatment option for patients suffering from chronic sacroiliac joint pain. Under the terms of the transaction, Nevro paid US$40 million at closing and agreed to pay up to an additional US$35 million in cash or stock tied to achievement of certain development and sales milestones. In addition, Nevro Corp. has closed a 6-year, US$200 million term loan credit facility from funds managed by Braidwell LP. Latham and Watkins LLP advised Nevro Corp. on both the secured financing and the acquisition. On the acquisition, a corporate deal team was led by partner Daniel Rees, with associates Abby Timmons and Erik Jensen. Advice was also provided on healthcare matters by partner Betty Pang, with associate Leia Gu; on data privacy matters by partner Heather Deixler, with associate Mitch Bennett; on regulatory matters by counsel Chad Jennings, with associate Trevor Thompson; on IP matters by counsel Arielle Singh, with associate Fiona Gillan; on benefits and compensation matters with partner James Metz, with associate Nimra Syed; and on tax matters by partner Eric Cho, with associate Kathryn Harrington. On the secured financing, a transactional team was led by partners Elizabeth Oh and Haim Zaltzman, with associates Benjamin Gelfand and Tyler Davis. Advice was also provided on UK debt matters by partner Carry Chen and associate Mark Walker; on corporate matters by partners Daniel Rees and Phillip Stoup, with associate Abby Timmons and Erik Jensen; on IP matters by counsel Arielle Singh, and associate Fiona Gillan; on benefits matters by partner James Metz, with associate Nimra Syed; on tax matters by partner Eric Cho, with associate Kathryn Harrington; on securities regulatory (1940 Act) matters by partner Laura Ferrell, with counsel Joel Cavanaugh; on security matters by counsel Emily Yu; on converts matters by partner Eric Rice, with associates Ryan Gold and Andrew Bentz; and on healthcare / regulatory matters by partners Heather Deixler, Betty Pang, and Elizabeth Richards.~~

Dec 8

2 min

A Southern-California Latham securities litigation team earned a significant victory for the former members of the board of directors of Switch, Inc., a Nevada-based data center operator and developer, by securing a complete dismissal with prejudice of a stockholder’s class action complaint in Nevada state court. Following the announcement of a Latham-led US$11 billion take-private transaction whereby DigitalBridge Group Inc. and an affiliate of IFM Investors Pty Ltd. acquired all outstanding common shares of Switch, the plaintiff filed a class action complaint seeking damages and alleging that Switch’s former board of directors breached their fiduciary duties in approving merger, and that DigitalBridge and IFM aided and abetted such breaches. After the merger closed on December 6, 2022, plaintiff filed an amended complaint attempting to add additional allegations in support of his theory. Latham moved to dismiss, arguing that the lawsuit was a flawed attempt to second-guess the sound business judgment of Switch’s board. Specifically, Latham detailed the robust and careful process the board undertook, including its establishment of a fully empowered special committee consisting only of independent and disinterested directors, a fulsome auction process that resulted in special committee negotiating an all-time high price for Switch stock, the engagement of world-class advisors, and the approval of the merger by an overwhelming majority of disinterested stockholders. On July 18, 2023, the court held an extensive oral argument. Following the argument, in ruling from the bench, Nevada state court judge Susan Johnson granted defendants’ motion to dismiss in full and with prejudice, denying the plaintiff leave to further amend his complaint, followed by a detailed order of dismissal with prejudice on July 31, 2023. The Latham team representing the former directors of Switch in the Nevada state court litigation was led by partner Josh Hamilton, who argued the motion to dismiss, with incredible efforts from associates Ryan Walsh, and Max Shapiro. The underlying deal was led by corporate partners Charles Ruck and Daniel Rees, with critical contributions from associates Brian Umanoff, Tiana Baghdikian, Jack McKay, Jack Vanderford, AJ Hines, and Erik Jensen.~~

Aug 10

2 min

Nevro Corp. (NYSE: NVRO), a global medical device company that is delivering comprehensive, life-changing solutions for the treatment of chronic pain, announced that it has entered into a Cooperation Agreement with Engaged Capital, LLC, pursuant to which Kirt P. Karros has been appointed to Nevro's Board of Directors as well as the Audit Committee of the Board effective February 20, 2024. Latham & Watkins LLP advised Nevro in connection with the cooperation agreement with a shareholder activism defense team led by partners Charles Ruck, Joshua Dubofsky, and Daniel Rees.~~

Feb 26

1 min