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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Partner Joel Felber is a partner in the Patent Practice Group at Leason Ellis and practices patent law with an emphasis on computing hardware and software technologies. Joel’s legal career draws on his prior work in industry as a computer programmer analyst and developer, as he counsels clients in a variety of technical areas such as digital health engagement and risk platforms, high-performance distributed intelligence systems, imaging systems, social marketing systems, collaborative media creation and wireless systems, cloud-based medical information management, interactive communications platforms, and encryption and security systems. In addition to patent and other forms of intellectual property procurement, Joel negotiates and drafts license and purchase agreements, software development, and consulting contracts. Leason Ellis LLP
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Partner, Trademark Attorney, Attorney-at-Law Ms. Haoyu Feng passed the Chinese bar in 2009 and has been working in Chofn IP since 2010. As a trademark attorney, attorney-at-law and partner, she has extensive experience in trademark prosecution, IP enforcement, and corporate IP strategy consulting. She has served many famous companies in the Chinese IP area. Ms. Feng is frequently invited to speak at industrial and legal events on various topics. She has contributed many articles to professional IP media and received high comments. Ms. Feng is a member of INTA's Famous and Well-Known Marks committee and a member of the China Trademark Association (CTA). Chofn Intellectual Property
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Legal Director | Lawyer Vitor Palmela Fidalgo is Legal Director and Lawyer at Inventa. Combining the legal aspect with his vision for the business, cooperates daily in the definition and implementation of the best Intellectual Property (IP) strategies, to protect and enhance the profitability of all IP assets. Specialist in internationalization strategies related to intellectual property rights transfer and licensing contracts. Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Law of the University of Lisbon and author of several academic works. Vitor is also Arbitrator in IP matters. Inventa
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Partner Barbara heads up Appleyard Lees' Life Sciences team.
Barbara's experience both in private practice and in-house enables her to provide commercially relevant and clear advice to her clients; in particular on integrating intellectual property (IP) into business strategy. Barbara is recognised in JUVE Patent.
Highly regarded for her client advice, her work includes a wide range of technologies in the biotechnology and pharmaceutical areas, with a specialist in-depth knowledge in the fields of antibody therapeutics and agrisciences.
Barbara enjoys working closely with start-up companies, universities and SMEs, regularly providing validity and freedom to operate assessments and is experienced in drafting and prosecuting patent applications, opposition and appeal proceedings at the European Patent Office (EPO) and global IP portfolio management.  
Barbara works with a variety of biotech and pharma companies, including Microbiotica and Crescendo  
Barbara has played a significant role in the growth of our biotech & pharma practice.  Appleyard Lees
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Partner, UK and European Patent Attorney, Trademark Attorney Paula is a UK and European Patent Attorney and Trademark Attorney who has been practising for over 20 years. Paula has a wide range of experience, covering a variety of technical fields, including medical devices, automotive engineering, hydraulic systems, manufacturing, fluid dynamics, packaging, printing, energy generation and consumer products, and she deals with clients in all of these areas. She frequently represents clients in opposition proceedings at the European Patent Office. In recent years, Paula has worked on secondment for a number of clients, which has given her the opportunity to appreciate commercial demands and constraints first-hand, and consider intellectual property issues from an alternative perspective. EIP
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Partner, Solicitor Kathleen is highly experienced in multi-jurisdictional patent litigation having acted in some of the most high-profile patent disputes of the last 25 years. Kathleen advises clients across the full gamut of technologies, and is a dual specialist acting in substantial patent disputes in Telecoms/electronics/ IT as well as in Pharma/Biotech in the High Court, Court of Appeal and Supreme Court. She has particular expertise in multi-jurisdictional co-ordination and strategy, interim injunctions, confidentiality and FRAND issues arising in patent litigation concerning Standard Essential Patents (SEPs). She is cited as a leading UK patent litigator by the major legal directories. EIP
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Partner Christina D Frangiosa brings more than 25 years of experience counseling clients across various industries about intellectual property and technology law, including advising foreign companies with respect to US matters and assisting U.S.-based clients in securing and protecting their IP rights outside the US. Neal & McDevitt, LLC
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Partner Matt Frisbee is a key piece of the firm's trademark portfolio management and counseling practice, overseeing the domestic and international portfolios of many of the firm's most important clients. He also has an interdisciplinary role by acting as a bridge between the firm's trademark and patent groups in the area of product design. In that role, he counsels clients on trade dress issues and coordinates design patent matters through the lens of a brand lawyer. Frisbee has also acted as the firm's point person on the Trademark Modernization Act, including drafting comments for the USPTO's Notice of Proposed Rulemaking. Leason Ellis LLP