Louis J. Virelli Jr., Joins Morgan Lewis: Former Chief Patent Lawyer for Unilever

Philadelphia, PA, February 6, 2007: Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP is pleased to announce that Louis J. Virelli Jr., former Chief Patent Lawyer for Unilever, has joined the firm as senior counsel. He adds his significant experience to a practice that includes close to 150 intellectual property professionals and technical specialists.

“Lou is an important addition to the growing Morgan Lewis Intellectual Property practice,” said Kell Damsgaard, a leader of the IP Practice. “He brings the unique business vision of an in-house IP lawyer to our team. During his tenure at Unilever, we worked regularly with Lou, and it is especially flattering that he has now chosen to join the firm,” he continued.

Mr. Virelli was, most recently, responsible for all of Unilever’s patent and trademark matters worldwide, including managing Unilever’s patent and trademark portfolios (the world’s largest), overseeing patent and trademark clearances, conducting due diligence and valuation of patent and trademark portfolios, negotiating the IP terms of acquisition and divesture agreements, negotiating and preparing licensing agreements, and managing all aspects of IP litigation. He was directly responsible for numerous lawsuits against major competitors worldwide, as well as a staff of 160 patent and trademark professionals.

Mr. Virelli is a graduate of the University of Tennessee School of Law (J.D., 1972), and is a frequent lecturer on IP issues.

About Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP
The Intellectual Property group at Morgan Lewis offers the full range of counseling, prosecution, licensing, and litigation expertise in all areas of intellectual property practice, including patent, trademark, copyright, and trade secret, and is closely integrated with other related firm practice areas.

Morgan Lewis is a global law firm with more than 1,300 lawyers in 22 offices located in Beijing, Boston, Brussels, Chicago, Dallas, Frankfurt, Harrisburg, Houston, Irvine, London, Los Angeles, Miami, Minneapolis, New York, Palo Alto, Paris, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Princeton, San Francisco, Tokyo, and Washington, D.C. For more information about Morgan Lewis, please visit www.morganlewis.com.