C. Rachal Winger, Ph.D.

Rachal is the chair of Lee & Hayes’ Chemical and Life Sciences practice out of the Seattle office.  She advises clients on a variety of intellectual property (IP) matters in the area of life sciences including therapeutics and vaccines; diagnostics and risk detection; delivery systems; methods of detecting targets for therapeutic intervention; and other health-related technologies. Rachal has extensive experience with antibody development and cellular immunotherapies, including the genetic engineering and manufacturing of immune cells for therapeutic objectives. Prior to obtaining her law degree, Rachal earned her Ph.D. in behavioral neuroscience. Her dissertation focused on the effects of immune system activation and pro-inflammatory cytokine release on brain function and included developing and treating an animal model of AIDS-related dementia.

Rachal is well versed in working with clients on creating and commercializing their IP portfolios while performing competitive analyses and assessing competitor’s IP. She has worked with a wide range of clients from start-ups, emerging growth companies, universities, non-profit research institutes, multi-national companies, and private equity and venture capital investors. She performs domestic and international patent prosecution and portfolio management, patentability and freedom-to-operate assessments, due diligence, and litigation evaluation and support. Prior to joining Lee & Hayes, Rachal was a partner at an international law firm.