The Firm: This brand new niche boutique, set up by former Bristows partners, offers standalone IP expertise covering the full gamut of IP issues. Comprising the former core of Bristows’ life sciences group, the new practice is more than capable of handling major patent disputes in the sector, interviewees agree. The market is also in “no doubt about the team's extensive abilities” - the group houses top-notch, highly motivated lawyers and has retained many of its gold-standard clients. The practice has already seen a flurry of instructions and has been recruiting aggressively: it now fields a total of 16 lawyers, including five partners.

The Lawyers: “A solid, talented practitioner,” life sciences specialist Penny Gilbert represents biopharmaceutical clients in cross-jurisdictional patent litigation. Clients describe her as a “highly skilled” litigator. Tim Powell is also commended for his big-ticket, multi-jurisdictional patent litigation work. He is further noted for his “deep pool of sector knowledge.”

Clients/Work Highlights: The firm is advising Human Genome Sciences on its High Court patent dispute with US pharmaceuticals company Eli Lilly concerning computer-derived gene sequences. The team is also acting for Monsanto UK, the food biotech company, in a case regarding the importation of GM soy products into Europe from Argentina. In addition, the group is counselling Affymetrics on IP issues relating to its DNA microarray technology, and it continues to act for Novartis on litigation matters involving its patents for cancer and AIDS drugs.