Graham Pechenik

Prior to founding Calyx Law in 2016, Graham gained over a decade of experience obtaining, asserting, and defending some of the country’s most valuable patents, representing numerous companies in the agricultural, chemical, pharmaceutical, biotech, and technology industries.

Graham has worked on litigation teams challenging high-profile patents in court, including Monsanto’s patents on GMO crops, Apple’s on touchscreen devices, Microsoft’s on FAT file systems, and Amgen’s on recombinant EPO (which fulfilled one analyst’s prediction as “the mother of all biotech patent cases”).

Graham also worked on several landmark patent cases both at trial and on appeal, including ARIAD Pharmaceuticals v. Eli Lilly & Co. (involving the written description requirement for biotechnology patents, with 26 amicus briefs before the en banc panel); Alice v. CLS Bank (patent eligibility of computer-implemented business methods); and Wyeth v. Dudas (successfully challenging the USPTO’s calculation of patent term adjustment, and resulting in significant extensions of patent life, especially for biotech and pharma patent holders).

Before focusing on work with life sciences startups, venture capital firms, and cannabis and psychedelics ventures, representative past clients included Pfizer, Wyeth, Roche, Sanofi, Life Technologies, Applied Biosystems, DuPont, Pioneer Hi-Bred, Ricoh, Symantec, AOL, Motorola, and Google.

Graham’s pro bono experience includes nonprofit incorporation and asylum representation, and he was part of a team that represented the governments of several foreign nations in a tax case before the U.S. Supreme Court.

In 2022, Graham was co-counsel in a successful administrative challenge to the DEA’s proposed scheduling of five psychedelic tryptamines, representing petitioners Mindstate Design Labs, Inc. and Tactogen Inc.

When he’s not working with clients, Graham contributes to Psychedelic Alpha as editor-at-large, where he writes about psychedelics IP, provides data for patent trackers, and helps maintain a psychedelics legalization and decriminalization tracker that’s published together with the UC Berkeley Center for the Science of Psychedelics (BCSP). Graham is also a member of Chacruna Institute’s Council for the Protection of Sacred Plants, as well as their outside general counsel. 

Graham’s thought leadership in the space is demonstrated through his frequent conference and media appearances, including multiple panels at SXSW, his recognition as a key opinion leader (e.g., Psychedelic Invest’s 100 Most Influential People in Psychedelics; Benzinga’s 30 Psychedelics Executives, Scientists & Influencers To Watch In 2024 And Beyond; The Dale Report’s 30 Accounts You Should Follow On Twitter), his participation on the Benzinga Psychedelics Advisory Council, and his membership on a number of academic, nonprofit, and corporate advisory committees and boards.

When he has spare time, Graham also enjoys motorcycling, snowboarding, foraging for wild mushrooms, and reading with his two cats.