New WIPR Rankings spotlight UK legal market for patents work

UK Patents Rankings 2025 showcase the firms and individuals best-placed to handle significant patent matters | Included are recommendations for experts in prosecution, litigation, and contentious patent office actions.

WIPR’s newly released UK Patents Rankings 2025 details the best of the UK market for patent work—from the firm that will litigate a case “to the nth degree”, to the team described as “a complementary extension to our in-house capabilities”, and the attorney noted as being “front and centre” of the industry.

In its first edition this year, the rankings provide a guide to the firms and individuals in the UK that are most capable of handling significant patent matters, rated in tiers from Notable to Outstanding within the broad categories of Non-Contentious and Contentious.

Many of the practices are relied on by multinational companies to carry out their patent work across Europe, comprising teams of UK and European attorneys, Unified Patent Court (UPC) representatives and litigators with experience before the highest courts on the continent.

UK Patents is the latest addition to WIPR’s Rankings directory, which focuses on the US, UK and China, with sector-specific listings for patents, trademarks and trade secrets. The portfolio also includes a one-of-its-kind Global Trade Secrets Ranking, as well as a curated list of worldwide IP Leaders.

Industry insight

WIPR’s UK Patents Rankings is based on in-depth research that includes interviews with leading lawyers, as well as their direct and referral clients, which provides valuable insight on the firms at the forefront of the UK patent legal market.

Outstanding-ranked Bird & Bird “deserves [its] good reputation”, acknowledges a peer, while Kirkland & Ellis, also in the highest tier, is described as being “kind of everywhere, and not in a negative way”.

The list is populated with many recommendations for individual lawyers—such as the Fieldfisher partner that an industry practitioner says clients “always thank me for an introduction to”, and a leading litigator at Mishcon de Reya who devises out-of-the-box strategies for winning cases and has been appointed as a deputy high court judge.

In compiling the rankings, the research team also considered the calibre of firms’ clients and the significance of the patent matters they have recently taken on.

Highlights include top-tier firm D Young & Co’s responsibility for the protection of Novo Nordisk’s wonder-drug portfolio of Wegovy, Ozempic and Rybelsus in Europe, and Microsoft’s reliance on CMS for the full spectrum of patent services.

Firms in other tiers are also doing sophisticated work for well-known clients—such as regional firm Greaves Brewster, which advises major corporations such as Mars Wrigley as well as fitness phenomenon Gymshark and leading biotech company Moderna.

Also on the client lists are some exciting startups and early-stage companies—which can require more demanding patent work and take “every skill in the book” to advise, WIPR Rankings was told during the research.

‘Mind-bendingly difficult’ technology

This year’s Non-Contentious category encompasses prosecution, transactional work, and portfolio management, while the Contentious category covers both litigation and oppositions/appeals at the patent offices.

The structure may develop in the future to more specifically acknowledge the different specialisms within the industry. The list is also likely to expand from next year to recognise a wider scope of UK patent firms, from this year’s initial round of research.

Firms are increasingly adopting a less siloed approach to patent services, with integrated attorney/solicitor teams and lessons learned in disputes being used to inform prosecution practices. CMS—favoured by Microsoft, Sanofi and AstraZeneca for patent work—has been fielding multidisciplinary teams to its clients for some time.

This more holistic approach is partly due to the increasing complexity of clients’ products, which might combine several technologies and involve multiple IP rights as well as regulatory concerns.

Firms have invested heavily in scientific expertise to match their inventor clients, and the ranking contains lawyers with the highest degrees in life sciences and technology subjects, as well as those with backgrounds in engineering and medicine.

Dehns’ recent key matters include working for a University of Oxford spin-out that uses atomic physics technologies described as “mind-bendingly difficult”. Elsewhere, Nokia uses Swindell & Pearson’s team to re-write the claims defining its inventions as well as draft new patent applications, often related to 5G and 6G networks, where the specifications are “complex, dense and run to 10,000 pages”.

Client and peer recommendations for this depth of knowledge include Murgitroyd senior European patent attorney Gabrielle Radault, whose “grasp of the technology being patented surpassed that of any academic colleague”, and the “superbly bright” John Lawrence, who heads up the aerospace sector at Barker Brettell.

The right team for disputes

The rankings is also a resource for some of the best options in the UK for high-stakes, contentious patent matters.

Described as “a force to be reckoned with”, Nicola Dagg is credited with building a “market-leading” UK patent practice at Kirkland & Ellis, which has been particularly active in the flurry of high-profile technology and telecoms standard-essential patent (SEP) cases in the country.

EIP is also known for its FRAND litigation work, which has included teaming up with fellow ranked firm Osborne Clarke to represent Optis in its 4G SEP dispute with Apple—with the result being the highest court-determined global FRAND rate on record, at over $700 million.

For pharmaceutical and biotech companies, the Rankings provides a guide to the firms with particular expertise in life sciences litigation, such as disputes powerhouse Powell Gilbert which has been representing BioNTech in UK proceedings as part of its widely-reported clash with Moderna over COVID-19 vaccine technology.

Much of the contentious patent work for some firms takes place at the European Patent Office (EPO), which one interviewee told WIPR Rankings is “not credited with the significance it deserves”.

With EPO oppositions and appeals capable of securing a client’s rights across the whole of Europe—or, conversely, freeing up the continent by knocking out a competitor’s patent—it is clear why attorneys say this work can be “incredibly powerful”.

Firms and individuals with particular skill in this area include Bird & Bird, which secured victories at the EPO for client The Broad Institute regarding gene-editing technology CRISPR; Beck Greener, which has a particularly strong track record at the forum; and Dehns partner Laura Ramsay, recommended by a peer for her “technical skills and ideas in regard to handling EPO oppositions”.

The rankings also highlight firms with a strong presence at the UPC—such as Freshfields, Carpmaels & Ransford, and Bristows, which created the new role of UPC director for experienced patent attorney Naoise Gaffney in February this year.

Other significant people moves—such as Powell Gilbert founding partner Tim Powell’s new start at Morgan Lewis, and some notable departures from Gowling WLG—are also discussed.

WIPR’s Global Trade Secrets 2025 Rankings are currently being researched in the month of July. To be considered for inclusion law firms can direct enquiries to rankings editor Baron Armah-Kwantreng at barma-kwantreng@worldipreview.com.

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