McAndrews Elects New Shareholder, Malaika Tyson, Ph.D.

03.16.20

McAndrews, Held & Malloy is pleased to announce the election of Malaika Tyson, Ph.D., to Shareholder, effective
March 1, 2020.

Malaika works with companies in a variety of industries, including life science, biotechnology and pharmaceutical, chemical and material sciences, and consumer goods, to develop integrated approaches to the strategic management of intellectual property. Her practice includes patent and trademark prosecution, competitive intellectual property analyses, and portfolio management. She also manages complex, multi-faceted intellectual property transactions. In addition, she has experience with post-grant proceedings, patent litigation, and EPO patent opposition practice.

“While in law school, Malaika was the recipient of our first Diversity in Patent Law Fellowship, so it is particularly exciting to see her elevated to equity partnership at the firm,” said Shareholder and Diversity Committee chair Sharon Hwang. “As a Ph.D. chemist with significant industry experience, Malaika brings unique perspectives to the strategic management of intellectual property. She is also a well-respected leader in numerous diversity-related organizations.”

“We are so proud of Malaika, having seen her progress from a summer associate to the incredible attorney she is today,” said President and Executive Committee member Bob Surrette. “In addition, her service to legal and diversity organizations, and to the Chicago education community, is truly exemplary.”

Malaika serves as chair of the ABA-IPL Patent Legislation Committee, is co-chair of AIPLA’s USPTO Relations Subcommittee, Chicago vice president and national board member of The Coalition of Women’s Initiatives in Law, a member of the board of directors for the Chicago Committee on Minorities in Large Law Firms, and a member of both The Black Women Lawyers’ Association of Greater Chicago and The National Bar Association. She is also a founding member of the Emerging Leaders Council of Bottom Line, an organization dedicated to helping low-income, first-generation Chicago high school students get into and achieve success in college.

Malaika received her J.D. from The University of Chicago Law School, where she was president of the Black Law Students Association. Previously, she earned her Ph.D. in Chemistry (Analytical) from Purdue University, and her bachelor’s in chemistry from Hampton University. Before joining McAndrews, she worked at MilliporeSigma (Formally Sigma-Aldrich) Biotechnology as a Senior Research and Development Scientist in the Proteomics group, where she was responsible for the development and optimization of products and strategies for biopharmaceutical applications.

In 2016, she was selected as a 40 Under Forty recipient by Law Bulletin Publishing Company, and she has been recognized as an Illinois Rising Star for intellectual property law in 2017, 2018, 2019, and 2020.