Will Worden has represented startups, early stage, and public and private companies in connection with intellectual property and transactional matters for almost 20 years. Will was one of the pioneering attorneys on transactions involving animal cloning technologies and the commercialization of regenerative medicine technologies, including stem cell technologies. His clients include companies and institutions in a variety of technology industries, including life science and biotechnology, manufacturing, semiconductors, software, and information technology. Will is also the partner-in-charge of the firm's Boston office and Chair of the firm's Intellectual Property & Technology Practice Group.

Will brings real-world experience to bear on the legal issues facing firm clients, using his background in agriculture, animal science, and IP to help identify and protect their intellectual property and to determine the best path to commercialization.

Will's practice includes:

  • Negotiating and preparing a wide variety of agreements relating to intellectual property
  • Managing IP portfolios, protecting and enforcing IP rights, and performing IP diligence in joint ventures, mergers, and acquisitions
  • Counseling clients on technology transfer matters involving nonprofit research and academic institutions and U.S. government agencies
  • Preparing and negotiating license agreements, CRADAs, MTAs, sponsored research, research collaboration, laboratory services, testing and evaluation, and development agreements
  • Representing clients in connection with contract disputes about intellectual property matters and settlement of disputes pursuant to license arrangements
  • Counseling (including with respect to clearance and prosecution of trademarks), managing, licensing, defending and enforcing domestic and international trademark portfolios

Before becoming a lawyer, Will worked in the field of agriculture and animal science. His experience included working in the professional farm management/consulting industries with well-known operations such as Rapidan River Farm (VA), Tanrackin Farm (NY), Lana Lobell Farms (NJ, NY, PA) Dearborn Farm (KY) and Cabin Branch Farm (VA) from 1976 to 1987 and serving as an agricultural aide to United States Senator Tom Harkin in 1988 and 1989.

Will also has experience with embryo transfer and artificial insemination technologies and holds certificates in Equine and Bovine Reproduction, Management and Breeding from Colorado State University, Fort Collins, Colorado, and the Graham School, Garnett, Kansas. Will's Master's thesis, "Modeling to Generate Alternatives to Least Cost Rations for the Dairy Farm" provided dairy farm managers with an alternative to traditional least cost ration formulation in the form of a linear programming application designed to generate alternative (nearly optimal) solutions.

Will joined Pierce Atwood in 1993 after serving as Law Clerk to the Honorable Harold Vietor, United States District Judge for U.S. District Court, Southern District of Iowa, from 1991 to 1993.

Honors & Distinctions
  • Listed in The Best Lawyers in America® for Patent Law (2010-present)
  • Rated AV® Preeminent™ by Martindale-Hubbell
Professional Activities
  • Member, Boston and Massachusetts Bar Associations
Civic Activities
  • Board of Directors, Biotechnology Association of Maine (2001-2010)
  • Board of Directors, Maine Center for Innovation in Biotechnology (2001–2010)
  • Advisory Board for the University of Maine School of Law Center for Law and Innovation (2003-2009)

Practice Areas

Representative Experience
  • Representation of a major nonprofit organization and leader in international education and exchange in connection with data security issues and a major software transaction
  • Representation of a major paper packaging manufacture in connection with the negotiation and preparation of a software license for mission critical software
  • Representation of an investor group on the intellectual property aspects of the purchase of OTC pharmaceutical assets
  • Representation of an internationally well-known nonprofit research institution in connection with a research collaboration and license agreement of potentially life-changing health care technology
Representative Experience
  • Representation of client in a dispute involving a consulting arrangement for $1.5 million of services and deliverables and settlement to avoid litigation
  • Representation of a developer/manufacturer of a well-known orthopedic device in a $50+ million asset sale and license transaction
Representative Experience
  • Representation of an international semiconductor manufacturer in connection with a worldwide trademark/branding project