Laila Beynon

At Regeneron, Laila Beynon leads complex, multi-jurisdictional intellectual property enforcement and defence strategies across Europe and beyond. 

Her career spans advanced pharmaceutical patent litigation, beginning with postdoctoral scientific research in molecular biology before moving into private practice at Herbert Smith Freehills (now Herbert Smith Freehills Kramer), where she rose from trainee to senior associate advising major life sciences companies on high-stakes disputes. 

She later served as senior counsel at British American Tobacco, leading global patent litigation coordination and strategic freedom-to-operate work, before moving to Regeneron in a senior leadership role. 

Since joining, Beynon has played a central role in global litigation strategy for key biologics portfolios, including high-profile Eylea biosimilar disputes and immuno-oncology patent defence programmes. 

Her work has involved leading cross-border injunction strategies, coordinating multi-country proceedings, and managing large-scale litigation portfolios spanning dozens of concurrent matters. 

Beynon is widely recognised for her strategic litigation leadership in the European patent landscape and regularly speaks at major IP conferences, including forums on Unified Patent Court developments and pharmaceutical patent enforcement. 

She is also a leading figure in the ChIPs Network: London & Europe chapter (Chiefs in IP) and contributes to initiatives focused on diversity and inclusion within the IP profession, including mentoring and access-to-the-profession programmes. 

Examples include a new junior pitching competition called Perfect Pitch, conceived of and led by Beynon, where junior outside counsel pitch their firms to Regeneron based on fictitious case studies.