WilmerHale Taps West Coast Life Sciences Partner to Head Deals

A Silicon Valley-based life sciences partner who moved from Latham & Watkins to WilmerHale last year will begin overseeing the firm’s transactional department in 2026.

With the elevation of Palo Alto’s Judith Hasko—who joined WilmerHale in June of 2024 and became co-chair of the life sciences practice—leaders at the East Coast-based law firm have signaled growing its presence in Silicon Valley’s tech and life sciences industries is a core feature of the firm’s growth strategy. The transition will see the center of dealmaking leadership move from Boston, where outgoing chair Mick Bain is based, to Palo Alto, California.

“We have not had a life sciences transactional practice in the Bay Area before I joined and we’ll continue to build that,” Hasko told Bloomberg Law in an interview. “We’re going to continue to grow nationally so we can represent technology companies and investors working in life sciences and in AI. Everything that’s cutting edge is what we want to focus on.”

Judith Hasko

WilmerHale

Hasko is slated to take over WilmerHale’s transactional department on Jan. 1 for Bain, who has served in the role for the past five years, according to firm deputy managing partner Joel Green. At that time, Bain will retire from the firm after three decades of advising tech and life sciences companies in financing deals.

“I proudly hand over leadership of the practice to Judith, who has the tenacity, strategic expertise, and collaborative spirit to lead the transactional department at the highest level,” Bain said in a prepared statement provided by the firm. Bain didn’t return a request for further comment.

Green said Hasko was appointed by firm leaders without an election by the partnership. He declined to specify the firm’s process for appointing practice leaders but said the firm’s “entire partnership is thrilled” to have Hasko at the transactional helm.

Hasko said she won the support of leaders and colleagues by making a conscious effort to integrate various components of the firm’s deal department to serve clients.

In 2023, Hasko advised Sonoma Biotherapeutics in a $120 million deal with Regeneron Pharmaceuticals to jointly develop therapies for autoimmune diseases, according to her online WilmerHale profile. A decade ago, Hasko represented Juno Therapeutics in a more than $1 billion investment in Celgene Corporation for the development of cancer treatment products, according to her online profile.

“I have had a deliberate focus to travel coast-to-coast and spend time face-to-face with my colleagues,” she said. “Even though I’ve only been here for one year, I do feel that I’ve been integrated well, and people have a good sense of who I am.”

WilmerHale is a $1.6 billion firm that has been in the news lately as a target of President Donald Trump for being the professional home of retired partner Robert Mueller, who headed a special counsel investigation into the 2016 Trump presidential campaign and Russia.

The firm was in the minority of Trump-targeted firms that challenged the president’s punitive actions in court, winning a permanent injunction against an executive order that sought to strip the firm’s security clearances and access to federal buildings. Justice Department lawyers have appealed that decision to the US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit.

The firm has a strong pedigree in political circles as a frequent destination for exiting government lawyers of both parties.