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8 New Square Intellectual Property
8 New Square
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8 New Square > The Legal 500 Rankings

London Bar > Intellectual property Tier 1

The members at 8 New Square are highly experienced in representing clients in all levels of court across the entire remit of IP-related cases, including those surrounding patents, copyrights, and trade marks. Among its strong bench of silks sits Michael Tappin KC, who has appeared before the Supreme Court and the Court of Appeal, and he is representing one of the claimants in BioNTech and Pfizer v Moderna and CureVac, which concerns a claim for the revocation of patents and counterclaims regarding the alleged infringement of patents regarding Covid-19 vaccinations. Andrew Lykiardopoulos KC is a notable name in the patents and copyright space, while Charlotte May KC acted for the claimant in a telecommunications patent infringement case which also questioned the validity of the patent involved (Phillips v OPPO). The set is also home to Martin Howe KC, who is especially skilled in cases regarding complex technology, including broadcasting and telecommunications-related technology, as well as biotech and pharmaceuticals, and James Abrahams KC, who is sought after for his expertise in high-tech patent litigation, often surrounding engineering and medical devices. Lindsay Lane KC is another key name at the set with significant experience in the entire range of IP matters, including patents, trade marks, copyrights, and database and design rights, as well as the tort of passing off.

Rising stars

Ranked: Tier 1

Leading Silks

Ranked: Tier 1
Ranked: Tier 1
Andrew Lykiardopoulos KC – 8 New Square ‘Andrew is one of the best KCs for patent matters in London. He is a very strong advocate and very skilled at identifying the key aspects of a case to focus on, and he is also an excellent team player, working extremely well with the solicitors on the case and quickly building a strong rapport with clients.'
Ranked: Tier 1
Ranked: Tier 1
Charlotte May KC – 8 New Square ‘Charlotte's real strengths are her inclusive, pragmatic approach with a focus on key issues. When working with her, she is very much part of the entire team which she cares about, including juniors in solicitor team, and consequently, she is able to quickly galvanise a team and direct their focus to dealing with the critical issues efficiently.'
Ranked: Tier 1
Ranked: Tier 1
Ranked: Tier 2
Ranked: Tier 3
Ranked: Tier 3
Lindsay Lane KC – 8 New Square 'Lindsay is an excellent team player who reads the judge well and knows when to push a point and when to hold back. She is a pleasure to work with and she wins cases.'
Ranked: Tier 3
James St Ville KC – 8 New Square ‘James has a great willingness to help an interest in the case and clients' needs. He is very personable, very thorough, and very successful in his cases.’
Ranked: Tier 4
Mark Chacksfield KC – 8 New Square 'Mark really gets on top of the underlying technical issues and the evidence, but can zoom out to the big picture. Very persuasive in court, has a good manner in court, and he is not afraid to advance difficult propositions.'
Ranked: Tier 4

Leading Juniors

Jaani Riordan – 8 New Square ‘Jaani is a star of the junior IP Bar. He is forensic, committed, hard working and smart, and he is on top of the legal issues across the board.’
Ranked: Tier 1
James Whyte – 8 New Square 'There is no hesitation in recommending James to clients. He is thorough and detailed in his advice, he is a pleasure to work with, and he maintains a calm demeanour, even in the most stressful of times.'
Ranked: Tier 1
Isabel Jamal – 8 New Square ‘Isabel integrates seamlessly into the broader legal team. She provides well-thought-through, pragmatic advice on the strengths and weaknesses of the case and the associated strategic decisions regarding its presentation, and she is excellent at seeing how the various parts of the case interact with each other and charting persuasive arguments that avoid any landmines.’
Ranked: Tier 1
Ranked: Tier 2
Ashton Chantrielle – 8 New Square ‘Ashton's career is progressing extremely well. Her written work is top-shelf, she is excellent before the court, and she is client-friendly.'
Ranked: Tier 3
Beth Collett – 8 New Square ‘Beth is sharp with an eye to the wider strategy. Beth is very collaborative, taking on board and enhancing the ideas of others in the team, and she is a forthright advocate who can think on her feet and use both passion and a forensic attention to detail to make her case.’
Ranked: Tier 3
Michael Conway – 8 New Square 'Michael is very clever, he is a good communicator, and he is easy to get on with. He is particularly good on his feet responding to questions from the judge on the key issues, demonstrating a firm grasp of the issues and a quick mind.'
Ranked: Tier 3
Ranked: Tier 3
Jonathan Hill – 8 New Square ‘Jonathan is one of the IP barristers who is equally adept at contractual litigation, so a go-to person for disputes involving a mixture of contractual interpretation and IP. Very user friendly, personable and easy work with.'
Ranked: Tier 3
Thomas Jones – 8 New Square ‘Thomas is an excellent junior destined for bigger things. Very impressive on his feet, he gets very involved in the detail and is more accessible than most at the IP Bar.’
Ranked: Tier 3
Iona Berkeley – 8 New Square ‘Iona is an extremely thorough and intelligent barrister who is great at looking around corners to anticipate the next steps in proceedings.'
Ranked: Tier 4
Ranked: Tier 4

Testimonials

‘Ben Newham is excellent and practicable.’

‘Nicholas Wise is friendly and helpful, as is Philip Taylor.’

‘Excellent team of clerks who are attentive and sympathetic.’

‘Best IP set with a great range of IP seniors, juniors and KCs.’

‘Top set with a great variety of talented barristers.’

Work highlights

London Bar > IT and telecoms: projects and services Tier 2

8 New Square is an ‘elite set’ for information technology law and regularly acts in cases concerning liability of internet intermediaries and FRAND rate determinations, as well as continuing to expand its offering in IT litigation related to the development of AI technology and the set's core strength of intellectual property. Jaani Riordan is acting for the defendant in IBM v LzLabs GmbH & Ors, with the claimant alleging that LzLabs illegally reverse-engineered its mainframe software to develop its Software Defined Mainframe. In InterDigital Technology Corp v Lenovo Group Ltd, Mark Chacksfield KC is representing the claimant as the Court of Appeal will address fundamental questions on the recoverability of interest in telecommunications FRAND actions. Jonathan Hill appeared before the High Court in PQ Systems Inc v Aughton, successfully establishing for the claimant that its software had been illegally copied and concealed.

Leading Silks

Ranked: Tier 2
Ranked: Tier 3
Ranked: Tier 4
Ranked: Tier 4
Mark Chacksfield KC –8 New Square ‘Mark gets to grips with the technical detail of the patents and has been in most of the big IT and telecoms cases of the last ten years, which gives him great experience.’
Ranked: Tier 4

Leading Juniors

Jaani Riordan –8 New Square ‘A total star. Across all the details and ready to put forward informed views on strategy at the drop of a hat. A great team player, no-nonsense and easy to deal with.’
Ranked: Tier 1
Jonathan Hill –8 New Square ‘Excellent technically, client friendly, charming and responsive. Jonathan is an excellent advocate.'    
Ranked: Tier 3

Testimonials

‘An elite set.’ 

 

Work highlights

London Bar > Media and entertainment Tier 2

8 New Square members are highly sought-after to assist with disputes across the film, television and publication industries, particularly in relation to authorship and copyright of books, scripts, screenplays and production formats. Martin Howe KC ‘combines his expertise in intellectual property law with an encyclopaedic knowledge of the law generally’, while Jaani Riordan  offers ‘second to none’ knowledge in the field of online enforcement, encompassing website blocking injunctions and other matters. Ashton Chantrielle is acting for the estate of Whitney Houston in a trade mark infringement claim in respect of a tribute show entitled Whitney Queen of the Night.

Leading Silks

Martin Howe KC – 8 New Square ‘Martin's legal analysis is extremely thorough and he is very good at thinking outside of the box and coming up with creative solutions. He combines his expertise in IP law with an encyclopedic knowledge of the law generally, which makes him a huge asset on any especially complex matters.’
Ranked: Tier 2

Leading Juniors

Ranked: Tier 3
Jonathan Hill –8 New Square ‘Jonathan is bright, knows his law and procedure, and is very thorough. ’
Ranked: Tier 3
Jaani Riordan –8 New Square 'Jaani is the most in demand junior for IP and tech matters with very good reason. His knowledge and expertise are second to none.' 
Ranked: Tier 3
Ashton Chantrielle –8 New Square ‘Ashton provides clear, commercially-minded advice, on complex areas of the law. She is very responsive, turning around work on a tight timeframe.’ 
Ranked: Tier 3

Testimonials

‘I have largely worked with Nick Wise and Paul Worrall. Nick and Paul are both a pleasure to work with. They have very effectively assisted in identifying suitable counsel and managing counsels’ availability and workload, including in some quite difficult circumstances.’

‘In my experience the clerks are very responsive, both via email and telephone.’

‘Clerks are very responsive.’ 

‘8 New Square is an excellent Intellectual Property set. I have worked with a few of their senior juniors and Kings Counsel across a range of IP disputes and they have all been a pleasure to work with – providing a high standard of advice and responsiveness.’

Work highlights

8 New Square > Set Profile

8 NEW SQUARE is the largest specialist intellectual property chambers in the United Kingdom. Chambers has 31 IP Barristers, including 12 KCs. We have two former Judges as door tenants as well as two active Judges sitting in the High Court. 8 New Square’s depth of knowledge and breadth of experience in intellectual property, media and entertainment and IT law is second to none. Chambers is involved in a significant proportion of all IP related trials each year, with members appearing in the majority of recent landmark cases before the Supreme Court, Court of Appeal and specialised patent division of the High Court.

From our most senior silks to our most junior members, we can offer technical and scientific expertise over a wide variety of disciplines. Many members of chambers have graduate or post-graduate level scientific qualifications and/or technical industrial experience. Chambers also offers a commercially focused service. We have market-leading experience in dealing with IP issues for large multinational commercial organisations, small to medium-size businesses, government departments and universities as well as individual inventors, artists and musicians. We value our friendly and approachable style and we are committed to achieving the best for our clients.

The set:  Members of chambers are at the forefront of intellectual property litigation; advising on and presenting cases with considerable technical detail. Most have at least an undergraduate science qualification and some have advanced science degrees. Chambers handles litigation for leading commercial organisations around the world and high-profile individuals, as well as small companies and individuals. Members appear in the major English courts and tribunals including the High Court, Court of Appeal, Supreme Court and The Intellectual Property Office including trade marks and design registries, as well as in cases before the Copyright Tribunal and the Intellectual Property Enterprise Court. Several members have written leading textbooks on aspects of intellectual property. The Reports of Patent Cases and The Fleet Street Reports, the two main specialist intellectual property law reports, have been edited from these chambers for many years, as well as the most recent editions of Kerly on Trade Marks and Trade Names, The Modern Law of Copyright and Designs and Russell-Clarke and Howe on Industrial Designs.

International:  Not only do members act in the major European courts, they also act in domestic and international arbitrations and mediations. Some are qualified to practice and appear in various courts overseas, including the Far East and the West Indies.

Types of work undertaken:  Patents expertise covers every field of technology. Members act in cases concerning the validity, infringement and licensing of patents and know-how, including competition aspects. A team from chambers acted in the first ever biotechnology patent appeal to reach what is now known as the Supreme Court and a total of five counsel appeared before the same court in the first FRAND rate determination dispute of Unwired Planet v Huawei. Chamber’s expertise and quality in FRAND licensing disputes has again been demonstrated this year with the Court of Appeal decisions in Interdigital Technology Corporation v Lenovo and Panasonic v Xiaomi as well as the High Court trials in Interdigital v Oppo and Panasonic v Oppo.

Other noteworthy patent cases of the last 12 months include Abott v Dexcom, Sandoz & Ors v Bayer, Emotional Perception AI v Comptroller-General for Patents & Philip Morris v Nicoventures Trading.

All members of chambers have wide experience in trade mark infringement, validity and passing-off litigation as well as disputes concerning ownership of trade marks. High profile cases over the last year include: the widely reported Supreme Court decision in Lifestyle Equities v Amazon handed down in March 2024,  easyGroup v Beauty Perfectionists, Shorts International v Google and Thatchers v Aldi which is to be considered by the Court of Appeal at the end of the year.

Copyright litigation and advice includes disputes over industrial design and artistic works, fashion designs, music and literary copyright. Over recent years, chamber’s most noteworthy cases include successfully representing the defendant in Pasternak v Prescott – a dispute relating to the best-selling novel The Secrets we Kept; acting for both sides of the Duchess of Sussex v Associated Newspapers dispute and successfully representing Ed Sheeran in his action against Mr Sami Chokri and Ors – a dispute surrounding the biggest selling song of 2017; “Shape of You”.

Breach of confidence is also an area of expertise, with members of chambers involved in major employer/employee disputes.

Privacy and media & entertainment related disputes form a large part of chambers’ work. Cases have involved leading companies and prominent individuals. Work in this area covers film, music and other related media contracts, publishing and broadcasting disputes, and performers’ rights. Tyburn Film Productions v Broughton & Ors, The Duchess of Sussex v Associated Newspapers, Sheeran v Chokri and Shazam v Only Fools The Dining Experience are all cases of recent significance.

Information technology is another major area of chambers’ practice which has included appearances at the Supreme Court – most notably the Cartier International v British Sky Broadcasting Ltd action. This area of expertise includes contractual disputes before the Technology and Construction Court, advice on internet and domain names database rights and data protection. Of particular media & public interest over the last 12 months, Counsel from 8 New Square formed part of the team representing the developers in the identity issues trial of Wright v COPA/BTC Core – a dispute concerning the creator & author of the Bitcoin White Papers & System.

Further information and news is available on the chambers’ website: www.8newsquare.co.uk.

 

 

 

Main Contacts

Department Name Email Telephone
Head of Chambers Daniel Alexander KC
Chambers Director Ben Newham
Senior Clerk Nicholas Wise
Head of Operations Tony Liddon
Practice Manager Martin Williams
Practice Manager Paul Worrall
Practice Manager Philip Taylor
Assistant Practice Manager Charles Nicholls
Junior Clerk Oliver Kent
Business Development and Administration Manager Harri Gibson
Marketing & Administration Executive Samantha Bunn
Head of Chambers ALEXANDER KC, Daniel (1988)
Member of Chambers HOWE KC, Martin (1980)
Member of Chambers TAPPIN KC, Michael (1991)
Member of Chambers TURNER KC, Justin (1992)
Member of Chambers SPECK KC, Adrian (1993)
Member of Chambers LYKIARDOPOULOS KC, Andrew (2004)
Member of Chambers MAY KC, Charlotte (1995)
Member of Chambers MOODY-STUART KC, Tom (1995)
Member of Chambers ABRAHAMS KC, James (1997)
Member of Chambers LANE KC, Lindsay (1996)
Member of Chambers CHACKSFIELD KC, Mark (1999)
Member of Chambers St VILLE KC, James (1995)
Member of Chambers CLARK, Fiona (1982)
Member of Chambers BERKELEY, Iona (1999)
Member of Chambers WARD, Henry (2000)
Member of Chambers HILL, Jonathan (2000)
Member of Chambers BOWHILL, Jessie (2004)
Member of Chambers WHYTE, James (2005)
Member of Chambers JAMAL, Isabel (2008)
Member of Chambers CHANTRIELLE, Ashton (2011)
Member of Chambers DUNCAN, William (2012)
Member of Chambers RIORDAN, Jaani (2009 Australia, 2012 UK)
Member of Chambers KEAY, Maxwell (2013)
Member of Chambers JONES, Tom (2013)
Member of Chambers CONWAY, Michael (2016)
Member of Chambers COLLETT, Beth (2016)
Member of Chambers DIXON, Jennifer (2017)
Member of Chambers EDWARDS, Henry (2018)
Member of Chambers EUSTACE, Edmund (2019)
Member of Chambers MARSHALL, Joshua (2021)
Member of Chambers HARRIS, Nicholas (2023)

Barrister Profiles

Photo Name Position Profile
James Abrahams KC photo James Abrahams KC James Abrahams KC is a leading silk in patent litigation and all… View Profile
Daniel Alexander KC photo Daniel Alexander KC Head of Chambers. Barrister specialising principally in intellectual property, information technology, competition,… View Profile
John Baldwin KC photo John Baldwin KC Barrister specialising in all aspects of intellectual property law, media and entertainment… View Profile
Iona Berkeley photo Iona Berkeley Barrister specialising in all areas of intellectual property law, including trade marks;… View Profile
Jessie Bowhill photo Jessie Bowhill Jessie is an intellectual property barrister with a focus on media and… View Profile
Mark Chacksfield KC photo Mr Mark Chacksfield KC Mark is a highly regarded silk with an outstanding reputation in complex… View Profile
Fiona Clark photo Fiona Clark Barrister specialising in all aspects of intellectual property law including related contractual… View Profile
Beth Collett photo Miss Beth Collett Barrister specialising in all areas of intellectual property law, including patents, trade… View Profile
Michael Conway photo Mr Michael Conway Barrister specialising in all areas of intellectual property law, including patents, copyright,… View Profile
Henry Edwards photo Mr Henry Edwards Barrister specialising in all areas of intellectual property law, including patents, trade… View Profile
Edmund Eustace photo Mr Edmund Eustace Barrister specialising in all aspects of intellectual property law including patents, trade… View Profile
Jonathan Hill photo Jonathan Hill Barrister specialising in all areas of intellectual property law including patents; copyright;… View Profile
Martin Howe KC photo Martin Howe KC Barrister specialising in all aspects of intellectual property (patents, trade marks, copyrights,… View Profile
Isabel Jamal photo Isabel Jamal Isabel’s practice focuses particularly on large and technically complex patent cases. Isabel’s… View Profile
Thomas Jones photo Thomas Jones Barrister specialising in all areas of intellectual property law, including patents, trade… View Profile
Maxwell Keay photo Maxwell Keay Barrister specialising in all areas of intellectual property law, including patents, trade… View Profile
Lindsay Lane KC photo Lindsay Lane KC Barrister specialising in all areas of IP and media and entertainment. Recent… View Profile
Andrew Lykiardopoulos KC photo Andrew Lykiardopoulos KC Barrister specialising in all areas of intellectual property law, including patents; registered… View Profile
Joshua Marshall photo Mr Joshua Marshall Barrister specialising in all areas of intellectual property law, including patents, trade… View Profile
Charlotte May KC photo Charlotte May KC Barrister (KC) specialising in all areas of intellectual property law and scientific… View Profile
Thomas Moody-Stuart KC photo Thomas Moody-Stuart KC Barrister specialising in all areas of intellectual property including patents, copyright, registered/unregistered… View Profile
Jaani Riordan photo Jaani Riordan Junior with technical background in computer science and expertise in all fields… View Profile
Adrian Speck KC photo Adrian Speck KC Barrister (KC) specialising in all aspects of intellectual property, media and entertainment,… View Profile
James St Ville KC photo James St Ville KC James St.Ville is a barrister specialising in intellectual property and IT law,… View Profile
Michael Tappin KC photo Michael Tappin KC Barrister specialising in all aspects of intellectual property law, but with a… View Profile
Henry Ward photo Henry Ward Barrister specialising in all areas of intellectual property law including patents; registered… View Profile
James Whyte photo James Whyte Barrister specialising in intellectual property law, with a particular emphasis on technically… View Profile