Goodwin‘s Cambridge office has ‘unique experience in life sciences and excellent knowledge of and extensive experience in IP contracting enables the team to provide relevant advice in relation to complex IP arrangements‘. The firm is frequently involved in helping companies to develop emerging life sciences and technologies, including Covid-19 vaccines, and it counts Oxford Biomedica, Teva and Avacta among its high-profile clients. Malcolm Bates (who has ‘a commercial and pragmatic approach to contract negotiations‘) and Tim Worden (who ‘cuts through the underbrush and pushes transactions forward‘) work from both Cambridge and London and lead the technology and life sciences practice. Counsel Talitha Shkopiak and associates Georgia Powell and Samantha Deacon also play pivotal roles in the practice. Worden and Powell assisted University of Dundee spinout In4Derm to licence a new treatment for immunology and oncology conditions.

One client remarks that Mills & Reeve LLP has 'a great and diverse team that works with our lawyers so smoothly', and another 'appreciates the way that they keep us informed of all progress and the way forward in full guidance'. The firm focuses on the technology, life sciences, automotive, food and agriculture, and education sectors, and it counts GlaxoSmithKline, The British Council and the University of Cambridge among its high-profile clients. Practice head Mark Pearce works from both the Leeds and Cambridge offices,  co-ordinating a five-partner commercial, IP and IT group. In Cambridge, head of life sciences James Fry and consultant Alasdair Poore, who specialises in IP protection, exploitation and enforcement, are the key practitioners. Principal associates Richard Plaistowe and Nicola Hanglin are highly recommended by clients.

The Cambridge office Taylor Wessing LLP is known for ‘partner responsiveness, competitive costs and the quality of the team‘. The local team acts as an integrated part of the firm’s global IP practice, and it handles all aspects of IP work for spin-outs, early-stage and multinational companies. This work includes major partnering transactions, R&D collaborations, commercial transactions and IP disputes. The firm counts Apollo Therapeutics, Fusion Antibodies and The Faraday Institution among its key clients. Practice head Adrian Toutoungi is ‘a go-to partner specialist for IP‘ and frequently advises on IP strategy and transactional IP issues. He assisted Nuclear with the IP aspects of its acquisition of E Ink’s digital microfluidics unit. Tasmina Goraya is a key part of the patents team and acts for local, national and international clients in the life sciences sector, including pharmaceutical and medical device companies.

Birketts LLP has ‘an extremely good team, very technically skilled and great to work with‘. The firm is best known for advising local East Anglian clients on all aspects of the life cycle of IP and it has a diverse client base that includes small start-ups and large regional enterprises. Among them are Greene King Limited and Galileo Foundation. Legal director and chartered trade mark attorney Melanie Harvey in Ipswich leads on trade marks and branding, legal director Maria Peyman in Cambridge. Also in Cambridge is experienced partner Quentin Golder, who is oversees the firm’s non-contentious IP work. Golder assisted neuroscience company Cambridge Cognition Ltd with licensing technology to pharmaceutical companies.

'The legal and commercial advice was so reassuring and the understanding of the problems l encountered was dealt with a great deal of empathy', says a client of Marks & Clerk. The Cambridge office is an outpost of one of the UK's largest IP firms and taps into a large network of solicitors, patent attorneys and trade mark attorneys across eight offices. In Cambridge, the key focus is commercial IP, for which the counts Alzheimer Scotland and Downing College among its clients. Simon Portman leads the Cambridge office and is co-head of commercial IP transactions along with Michael Moore, who works from both Cambridge and London.

Penningtons Manches Cooper LLP has a broad-ranging practice that handles patents, designs, trade marks, copyright and rights in confidential information, and is adept in both contentious and non-contentious matters. The firm has extensive experience in transactional IP, licensing, collaboration agreements and R&D agreements. Rachel Bradley works with partners in London and Oxford to co-lead the IP practice and clients remark that she has 'significant expertise and supports clients in robust and legally sound commercial agreements'. She advises clients in the life sciences, publishing and charities sectors, and acted for Fluid Pharma on collaboration agreements for the development of novel paediatric medicines for malaria.

Tees Law in Cambridge recently recruited senior associate Alastair Cotton, formerly of the International Paralympic Committee (IPC), to lead on brand protection matters for clients in the sport, media, education, and cultural sectors. Cotton also focuses on issues concerning ambush marketing and the staging of sports events. Since joining, he has advised the IPC on a wide range of matters including with the protection, exploitation and enforcement of its intellectual property rights. This encompassed enforcing the IP rights globally against infringers, and preparing and executing the brand protection strategy for the Paralympic Games.