Alex Brown

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Thanks to a merger with Brookes IP in late 2020, Venner Shipley is now larger and more capable than ever before, playing host to 31 partners and 70 associates, each with strong technical proficiency in areas including artificial intelligence, CRISPR technology, autonomous vehicles and cyber-security. In 2021 alone, the group filed 1,500 European patents and 200 Patent Cooperation Treaty applications at the EPO – and thanks to its strong track record, client relationships go the distance. One significant relationship is with Sanofi, which it has been advising in relation to bioinformatics and software. Co-leading on the piece are electronics and engineering maven Paul Derry, as well as Alex Brown, who also co-heads the design practice. The pair are joined on the electronics side by Richard Kennedy, Pawel Piotrowicz and Jan Walaski. The technically dazzling Kennedy heads up the AI practice and is known for keeping abreast of changes at the EPO, while Piotrowicz recently took over from Walaski as managing partner. One source credits Piotrowicz as being “able to translate IP law speak and instrumental in defining our patent strategy and portfolio”; Walaski, meanwhile, heads up the electronics and software team and knocks it out of the park in administrative proceedings. Siân Gill is also a fearsome EPO advocate and heads up the chemical life sciences group. Alongside her are Allie Elend and Stephen Johnson – who are adept at crafting patent portfolios and strategies for both multinational companies and start-ups – as well as Tim Russell, who is also an expert in oppositions and has recently carried out a wide range for Procter & Gamble. Alongside this line-up of top patent attorneys is a stellar legal team, helmed by barrister James Tumbridge, who has 20 years’ experience practising patent law in England and Wales, the United States andCanada.