Leaders Directory
WIPR Leaders is a one-stop guide to the leading IP practitioners in the world. The handbook lists over 2,500 lawyers across patent, trademark, and copyright practices. Following an extensive nomination period, our research team vetted the nominated lawyers for suitability by exploring their work. This meant looking at practice history, industry expertise and notable cases, as well as any additional activities, such as writing and teaching responsibilities, which have allowed the lawyers to shape and influence other and future IP practitioners.
Featured Leaders
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Partner Rob Rodrigues manages high-stakes business and intellectual property disputes in Brazil. He assists FORTUNE 500 companies and startups in matters requiring complex technical ability with strategic approach. Rob is managing patent portfolios of the largest life sciences and telecommunications companies in the planet. His understanding of the Brazilian market makes him a “go-to” lawyer when dealing with enforcement measures. Rob is an experienced attorney and acts as lead counsel in several preliminary injunction proceedings and patent trials. In addition, Rob assists clients with the largest transactions involving IP assets. His litigation-oriented mindset adds value when managing cross border risks. His clients praise his technical skills, his ability to perform under pressure and his outstanding leadership in the local community. He has also published articles in technology law journals around the world and is currently an editor of the Kluwer Patent Blog. Licks Attorneys
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Partner Henry Gabathuler is a partner in the Patent and Litigation Practice Group at Leason Ellis, where he counsels clients ranging from start-ups to Fortune 100 companies on all aspects of patent prosecution, litigation, and intellectual property portfolio development and licensing. Henry is a registered patent attorney and has extensive experience securing patent protection in the U.S. and worldwide. He also handles patent, trademark, copyright, antitrust and general business litigation matters, at both the district court and appellate court levels and often in a leading role. He counsels clients in a variety of industries including computer hardware and software, oil and gas, consumer electronics, telecommunications and medical technologies. Leason Ellis LLP
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Partner/Attorney at Law/Trademark Agent As a partner and director of the international trademark department of Unitalen Attorneys at Law, Lei (Ray) Zhao has accumulated extensive practical experience in trademark prosecution and IP enforcement.
Zhao works as a legal consultant providing IP services for many listed companies, famous domestic companies, public figures and multinational clients in litigation and non-litigation cases regarding patents, trademarks, unfair competition, trade secrets, domain names and network infringements.
He also counsels clients on IP strategy and IP infringement issues. Unitalen Attorneys At Law
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Partner and Patent Attorney In his activity as patent attorney, Jan works in the fields of materials science and basic industry (metallurgy, metal processing, ceramics, glass, building materials, plastics processing, industrial furnace design),as well as the technical sector in General and inorganic chemistry. In legal matters Jan has a special interest in contract law, in particular licensing and legal purchase agreements. He also has extensive dealings in opposition, nullity and infringement proceedings.
As a German Patent attorney and as well as a European Patent Trade mark and Design Attorney of course another field of interest is trade mark and design/model law.
Jan has many years of experience in the field of industrial property protection (since 1996). He completed his training in a patent and legal attorneys’ office, in the German Patent and Trade mark Office and at the German Federal Patent Court. Afterwards Jan worked in a Munich attorneys’ office before becoming a co-founder of a Munich patent and legal attorneys’ office in 2002.
In 2013 Jan became founding Partner of Patronus IP in Munich. From March 1 he's Partner at HGF Europe LLP.
Prior to training as a patent attorney, Jan studied Material Sciences at the Technical University of Clausthal. In the course of the studies he gained experience in the glass industry, the cement and construction materials industry, and the refractory industry. HGF
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Chief International Marketing & Development Officer, Vice President Vice President, Licensing & Litigation Management
Chief International Development and Marketing Officer
Purplevine IP Group
China Purplevine IP Group
Women In IP
Partner Ashley has been practicing Chinese IP law since 2005 and was admitted to the PRC Bar in 2008. She is regularly involved in both contentious and non-contentious IP matters, specialising in trademark, copyright, domain name, Internet law and anti-unfair competition matters. Ashley has extensive experience before the China Trademark Office and the Trademark Review and Adjudication Board. Her client base includes international corporations from a wide range of industries. Ashley handles intellectual property transactions and licensing, as well as regulatory matters that affect a brand owner’s business operations in mainland China. She provides advice on domain name disputes, IP strategy and IPR enforcement with regards to online take-downs, AIC raid actions and litigation in China. AWA Asia Ltd
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Partner Simon Bradbury is a partner at Appleyard Lees, focusing on patents in the life sciences and biotechnology sectors. His broad expertise includes artificial intelligence and machine learning in drug discovery, medical devices, and microbiology. He has advised clients in matters relating to oppositions, appeals, infringement, revocations, and invalidity actions. His clients include large multinationals as well as startup companies. Appleyard Lees
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Partner Christian W. Appelt focuses on the counselling of SMEs in Germany and Europe in all aspects of intellectual property, especially patents and utility models, and on representing and advising large, internationally active companies, especially from Japan, China and the US. He has been a member of the Board of the German chapter of LES since 2010, acting as President from 2018 to 2020, and now being member of the Advisory Board of LES Germany. He represents his clients at the German patent authorities and courts, as well as at the European Patent Office (EPO) and at the UPC. Boehmert & Boehmert
Women In IP
Managing partner Laura Collada has more than 30 years’ experience in IP and is a managing partner at Dumont, where she has worked since 2000. She has taught copyright and industrial property law at various universities in Mexico City. She also worked as a director of the sub-office for the prevention of unfair competition at the Mexican Institute of Industrial Property.
Collada focuses her practice in the areas of fashion, media and telecommunications. She has written for World IP Review and is a member of INTA, Marques, AIPPI and ECTA. Dumont Bergman Bider & Co
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Women In IP
Partner Rachna Bakhru is a Partner with RNA, Technology and IP Attorneys, an IP specialist law firm. She qualified as an Electronics graduate from Delhi University, followed by diploma in Business Administration and a degree in Law. She is a registered Patent agent and a member of the Bar council of India.
Rachna currently heads the Dispute Resolution team of the firm, dealing with IP enforcement and advisory. She has over 25 years of extensive experience in managing non-contentious and contentious IP matters, IT and Technology issues. Her expertise includes risk assessment, IP clearance, regulatory issues, litigation and alternate dispute resolution. She has worked on portfolios of large international companies and her industry expertise includes Pharmaceuticals and Information technology. She advises her clients on issues related to IP infringement, Information Technology, trade secrets, data protection, and geographical indications. RNA Technology & IP Attorneys
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Of Counsel Elizabeth Barnhard chairs the pharma/biotech practice group at Leason Ellis. She is an astute risk manager, a percipient counselor with a fine-tuned understanding of her clients’ context and mission, and a global patent strategist. Barnhard draws on her in-depth experience of law firms and the pharma industry to help clients in a variety of industries and multi-disciplinary technologies create and commercialise robust worldwide intellectual property portfolios that protect new inventions and products and add value to their businesses. Her clients include large and small companies, academic and research institutions, startups and solo entrepreneurs. Leason Ellis LLP
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Senior Partner - Director Corporate and Business Development Mechanical and Electrical Engineer specialized in Electronics. Graduated from Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México – School of Engineering. He obtained a Diploma in Management Skills by the Instituto Tecnológico de Monterrey. Becerril Coca & Becerril SC
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Senior Associate Paul's strong engineering background and in-house experience makes him well-positioned to offer clients commercially sensible, tailored support. Paul works with a range of start-ups and SMEs to maximise the value of their IP.
Paul has significant experience drafting and prosecuting patent applications in a broad range of mechanical and electromechanical fields, including aerospace, thermodynamics, green technology systems, medical devices, hydraulic systems and consumer electronics.
During a three-year secondment to the in-house patent department of a consumer products company, Paul gained valuable experience of managing a large patent portfolio. He experienced first-hand, the challenges inventors and companies face when bringing products to market. Appleyard Lees
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Partner Simon Bradbury is a partner at Appleyard Lees, focusing on patents in the life sciences and biotechnology sectors. His broad expertise includes artificial intelligence and machine learning in drug discovery, medical devices, and microbiology. He has advised clients in matters relating to oppositions, appeals, infringement, revocations, and invalidity actions. His clients include large multinationals as well as startup companies. Appleyard Lees
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Partner Richard supports a wide range of clients operating in the UK, and also those headquartered internationally in the USA, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Ireland, Japan and Korea.
Richard's clients range from universities, to start-ups and spin-outs, and on to globally-known household brands, across a wide range of technological fields. Those clients are world-leading in technological sectors such electronic consumer goods, defence, food products, and the more emerging technologies of autonomous vehicles, vehicular head-up displays, virtual and augmented reality, image guided therapy, nuclear (e.g. fusion), quantum security, and more.
Richard acts as a liaison for many of Appleyard Lees’ largest clients and the firm's sector-specialist teams that support those clients. Richard also leads on relationship building with new and existing contacts, bringing together his wide technological and client bases to help identify IP issues and trends, and related solutions and opportunities, and using all of this as a basis for structuring short, medium and longer-term IP strategies. Richard really enjoys listening to clients, and solving their problems. Appleyard Lees