Mehrin Masud-Elias [ Associate ]
Duane Morris LLP
30 South 17th Street
Philadelphia, PA 19103-4196
USA
Phone: 215.979.1947
Fax: 215.689.4930
Email:
mmasudelias@duanemorris.com
Mehrin Masud-Elias practices in the area of corporate law with a concentration on mergers and acquisitions, venture capital financings, strategic alliances, business law and finance and securities regulation and is a member of the firm's Recruitment and Retention Committee. Ms. Masud-Elias also counsels clients in corporate governance matters and licensing and other technology-related transactions. Prior to joining Duane Morris, she served as assistant deputy general counsel for Comcast Corporation.
Ms. Masud-Elias is a member of the Business Law Section of the Philadelphia Bar Association and the South Asian Bar Association of Philadelphia. She is a member of the Board of Governors of the Philadelphia Bar Association. Ms. Masud-Elias is the former President of the Board of Directors of the Cambridge Multicultural Arts Center, a nonprofit arts organization based in Cambridge, Massachusetts. She is a frequent speaker on panels addressing professional development issues.
Ms. Masud-Elias is a 2001 graduate of Columbia University School of Law, where she was a Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar and articles editor of the Columbia Human Rights Law Review, and a magna cum laude graduate of Amherst College, where she was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. She also studied Theoretical Physics at the California Institute of Technology (CALTECH).
Areas of Practice
- Mergers and Acquisitions
- Venture Capital
- Licensing/Strategic Alliances
- Business Law and Finance
- Securities Regulation
Representative Matters
- Counsel to emerging businesses in structuring, negotiating and drafting venture capital and other private equity financing arrangements and related corporate governance, executive compensation, and securities law compliance issues.
- Counsel to technology and life science companies in the structure, negotiation and drafting of various types of licensing and other technology agreements, and joint venture arrangements.
- Represented a large U.S. pharmaceutical company in all transactional matters involving the development, manufacture, supply, commercialization and distribution of its pharmaceutical products.
- Represented a large Japanese pharmaceutical company in structuring and negotiating its proposed collaboration, development and license arrangement with a U.S. biopharmaceutical company.
- Represented an Australian biotechnology company, in its divestiture of its U.S. dietary supplement product lines to a U.S. nutritional supplement company.
- Represented large Boston-based financial services companies in numerous merger and acquisition transactions and complex corporate reorganizations.
- Counsel to buyers and sellers in domestic and cross-border acquisition and divestiture transactions, including assistance with structuring transactions from business, regulatory and tax perspectives.
Professional Activities
- Center for Emerging Visual Artists
- Board Member, June 2009-present - Philadelphia Bar Association
- Board of Governors, 2009-present - Pennsylvania Biotechnology Association
- Member, Communications Track Subcommittee of Biotech 2008 - South Asian Bar Association
- Secretary and Board Member, Philadelphia Chapter
- Member, Planning Committee for the National South Asian Bar Association's 2009 Convention
- Former Board Member, Boston Chapter - DreamIt Ventures
- Counsel to startup company participant, 2009 - Innovation and Entrepreneurship Institute at Temple University's Fox School of Business
- Judge, 2009 Be Your Own Boss Bowl Business Plan Competition - Columbia University Alumni Club
- Amherst College Alumni Club
- Wharton Club of Philadelphia
- British American Business Council
- Japan American Society of Greater Philadelphia
- The Network of Indian Professionals
- Women Inventing Next
- Professional Women's Roundtable
Admissions
- Pennsylvania
Education
- Columbia University School of Law, J.D., 2001
- Amherst College, B.A., magna cum laude, 1997
- Articles Editor, Columbia Human Rights Law Review
- Chair, Columbia Law Women's Association
- Phi Beta Kappa
Experience
- Duane Morris LLP
- Associate, 2008-present - Comcast Corporation
- Assistant Deputy General Counsel, 2007-2008 - Morgan Lewis & Bockius LLP
- Business and Finance Associate, 2006-2007 - Goodwin Procter LLP
- Business Law Associate, 2001-2006
Board Memberships
- Philadelphia Bar Association
- Board of Governors, 2009-present
- Member, Business Law Committee
- Member, Private Equity and Venture Capital Law Subcommittee - South Asian Bar Association of Philadelphia
- Board Member, 2008-present - Cambridge Multicultural Arts Center
- Board President, 2002-2006
Civic and Charitable Activities
- Paralegal Studies Program of Community College of Philadelphia
- Mentor - Philadelphia Power Partners
- Reading Coach - Chester Avenue Dog Park
- Volunteer/Member, 2007-present - Friends of Clark Park
- Volunteer, 2006-present
Honors and Awards
- Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar
- Walter Minton Fellow
- Phi Beta Kappa
Selected Publications
- Pandora/Proloinkarini, Nothing But Red, 2008.
Selected Speaking Engagements
- Panelist, "Challenges Facing South Asian Women in Law," Drexel University, April 2008
- Panelist, "Navigating Diversity in the Workplace," Harvard Law School, April 2006
- Panelist, "Charting a Legal Career," Boston College Law School, October 2005