Chapter Leadership Team
Annsley Merelle Ward
Chapter Leader, United Kingdom
Annsley Merelle Ward
Chapter Leader, United Kingdom
Counsel, WilmerHale
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Amy Crouch
ChIPs Chapter Leader
Amy Crouch
ChIPs Chapter Leader
Managing Associate at Simmons & Simmons
Amy has gained experience working on contentious and non-contentious intellectual property matters, with a focus on patent litigation in the life sciences sector based on her background in Biochemistry.
Her non-contentious work has included advising on clinical trial agreements in a number of jurisdictions.
Laura Whiting
ChIPs London Chapter Leader
Laura Whiting
ChIPs London Chapter Leader
Partner at Freshfields
Laura Whiting focuses on contentious intellectual property matters and has a wealth of experience in litigating patent, SPC and trade secret disputes.
Clients come to Laura from across the industry spectrum, from biotech and innovative life sciences, through chemicals to high tech. A solicitor advocate, Laura’s practice embraces complex technical cases, often with a cross-border angle.
She draws on her chemistry background to deftly handle the most scientifically complex cases, especially in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology, chemical and medical devices fields. Laura also advises clients in the technology sector on patent disputes at the interface of competition law and IP, particularly in relation to FRAND obligations and the impact of those obligations on obtaining relief.
Laura has represented clients before all levels of the UK courts and the Court of Justice of the EU, and is frequently involved in significant cases before the European Patent Office and in coordinating UK proceedings with parallel actions in various jurisdictions in Europe, the US and Asia. Laura also regularly counsels clients on the risks and strengths of their IP portfolios, and in relation to licensing disputes.
Tess Waldron
ChIPs London Chapter Leader
Tess Waldron
ChIPs London Chapter Leader
Partner at Powell Gilbert
Tess has advised clients on a broad range of issues across the full spectrum of intellectual property rights. She has also represented life sciences and consumer electronics companies in wider commercial disputes and negotiations, including in relation to FRAND licensing.
Tess has experience of litigation in the High Court (involving both general commercial and intellectual property claims), Court of Appeal and Supreme Court, and has taken a lead role in successful mediations. She is a solicitor advocate and has represented clients in the High Court as advocate.
Prior to becoming a solicitor, Tess qualified as a doctor and spent three years working in hospital medicine. This experience provides her with valuable background and context, in particular when advising clients operating in the life sciences sector.
Tess joined Powell Gilbert in 2014 and became a partner in 2022.
Jemma Trainor
ChIPs London Chapter Leader
Jemma Trainor
ChIPs London Chapter Leader
Senior Associate at Hogan Lovells
Jemma Trainor’s practice is focused on multi-jurisdictional patent litigation in the electronics and life sciences sectors. She has represented clients in patent proceedings in the High Court (Patents Court) as well as advising on other IP related-matters such as licensing.
Most recently, Jemma has acted in patent disputes involving standardised technologies and pharmaceutical products. She routinely works with international clients on patent cases involving multiple jurisdictions and co-ordinating with different legal teams.
Prior to joining Hogan Lovells as an associate, Jemma trained at a Magic Circle firm and qualified into its IP Litigation team, where she acted on a broad range of IP disputes. During her training contract, Jemma was seconded to the High Court as a judicial assistant to Mr Justice Birss, where she gained experience of a wide variety of cases in the Chancery Division (now the Business and Property Courts), in particular the Patents Court.
Jemma read Law at the University of Cambridge. After qualifying as a lawyer, Jemma completed the Postgraduate Diploma in Intellectual Property Law and Practice at the University of Oxford with Distinction.
Katie McConnell
ChIPs London Chapter Leader
Katie McConnell
ChIPs London Chapter Leader
Partner at Hogan Lovells
Katie is a solicitor advocate with extensive experience representing clients in major multi-jurisdictional patent disputes in the telecoms and pharmaceutical sectors. Katie is also recognized – by both clients and counterparties – for her practical and solution oriented approach when drafting and negotiating licensing, settlement, and IP aspects of other commercial agreements.
In the telecoms sector, Katie advises on and coordinates cross-border patent disputes, patent arbitration (including in relation to disputes over the appropriate royalties and terms for licenses of standards essential patents (SEPs)), and issues relating to SEPs and non-essential patents. She has won cases confirming that an SEP could be worked around, striking out an application for ex-UK damages claimed for infringement of a UK SEP (clarifying the law in this hotly contested area), and clarifying the scope of the UK’s Crown Use defence to patent infringement.
Katie has advised on a number of Life Sciences ‘firsts’, including acting for Merck in the first UK cases challenging the interpretation of European legislation regarding pediatric extensions, and in the first UK case on the interpretation of the Specific Mechanism (ultimately resulting in a favorable ruling from the CJEU). Katie has significant experience in the area of SPCs and pediatric extensions.
Key examples of Katie’s transactional experience include acting for Novartis on IP aspects of its US$16bn portfolio transformation transactions with GSK, advising Novartis on IP aspects of its collaboration with Microsoft to leverage artificial intelligence (AI) to transform how medicines are discovered, developed and commercialized, and advising the Kraft and Mondelez Groups on the IP aspects of their demerger as it affected their global coffee business. Katie also advises on other non-contentious and pre-litigation IP matters including selection of suitable candidate patents for assertion in licensing negotiations and patent disputes.
Maritza Sierra Hernandez
ChIPs London Chapter Leader
Maritza Sierra Hernandez
ChIPs London Chapter Leader
Paralegal at WilmerHale
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