Melanie Szweras

About Melanie

Melanie Szweras is a partner with Bereskin & Parr LLP and a member of the Life Sciences practice group. She is also co-leader of the Privacy/Regulatory, Advertising, Marketing practice group.

Melanie’s practice focuses on drafting and prosecution of applications relating to biologics, diagnostics, biotechnology, food and pharmaceuticals. Melanie offers strategic advice and expertise to her clients, provides validity and freedom to operate opinions and is involved in related patent litigation and licensing.

Melanie’s privacy work includes advising organizations on compliance with Canadian privacy laws, including PIPEDA, assisting with preparation of privacy policies, terms and conditions, outsourcing agreements and general management of personal information. Her regulatory work includes advising on Health Canada regulated labelling and advertising and on health-related regulations, such as those relating to notices of compliance, certificates of supplementary protection and the Patented Medicines Price Review Board.

Melanie lectures on aspects of Biotechnology and The Application Process at the University of Toronto’s Patent & Trade Secrets Law course and Osgoode Hall’s LLM Patent Law course. Melanie is the Vice-Chair of the Continuing Professional Development Committee for the Intellectual Property Institute of Canada (IPIC) . Melanie also is the Issues Leader of the American Intellectual Property Law Association (AIPLA) Biotechnology Committee.

Melanie received numerous awards throughout her education, including the Medical Research Council Studentship and a University of Toronto Open Scholarship. She was also the Bronze Medalist for her class of 2003 at Osgoode Hall Law School.

Outside of work, Melanie is passionate about her family and her dog, loves going for walks and is an avid sports fan.

“I skate to where the puck is going, not where it has been.” (Wayne Gretzky)