Life Sciences Duo Bolsters Hogan Lovells' Houston Corporate Team

“Hogan Lovells has long been known as a preeminent life sciences practice globally and the arrival of Andrew and Barry expands the support we can offer to life sciences clients, particularly for emerging growth companies, investors, and academic institutions.” said Steve Abrams, global co-head of Hogan Lovells’ Life Sciences and Health Care industry sector.

“We are super excited to join Hogan Lovells’ Life Sciences & Health Care team,” said Strong. “The global breadth and depth of Hogan Lovells’ life sciences practice in all the major markets, its stellar pharma regulatory practice and its deep bench of expertise serving both private and publicly traded biotech companies will enable us to better serve our existing clients while expanding our offering to seamlessly support clients across the full spectrum of their needs globally.”

Strong and Burgdorf represent life sciences/biotech and health care companies from early stage technology spinouts all the way through public exits or mergers and acquisitions.  Strong previously served as the founding President and CEO of Kalon Biotherapeutics, a Texas A&M University biotech spin out which he successfully grew to a staff of over 120, financed and built three state of the art manufacturing facilities, and sold to Fujifilm Diosynth Biotechnologies in 2015. Prior to that Strong was the General Counsel and Compliance Officer for the Texas A&M University System where he was responsible for, among other things, business transactions, technology commercialization, and litigation for the System’s 11 public universities, seven state agencies and health science center. Strong is also the co-founder and Chairman of K2 Biolabs, a drug development company accelerator located in the Texas Medical Center.

Burgdorf previously served as General Counsel of Samsung Austin Semiconductor where he worked on the construction of Samsung’s DRAM fabrication plant and  multiple large financings.  Burgdorf also served as Vice Chancellor and General Counsel of the University of Texas System, where, for over eight years, he was a key member of the leadership team and oversaw areas ranging from legal to real estate to IT security and technology transfer for the 14 campus university system. He has also spent time in the corporate suite for Remeditex Ventures and VuComp., Inc – a medical device technology company.  Burgdorf was also a corporate securities partner at another global law firm. 

“Andrew and Barry are a strong addition to the expansion of both our Houston office and our leading Life Sciences and Health Care commercial transactions and emerging companies team. Their joining our  global transactional practice, which has over 900 lawyers, builds upon the momentum of recent hires in London, Paris, Shanghai and New York.” said David Gibbons, Hogan Lovells' global head of the Corporate & Finance practice.

Strong received his B.S. Civil Engineering from Texas A&M University and his J.D. from South Texas College of Law. Burgdorf graduated from The University of Texas at Austin with a B.B.A, Southern Methodist University with a M.B.A and received his J.D. from The University of Texas School of Law.

Strong and Burgdorf have joined from Pillsbury.