Litigation: Lawyers – France 2023

JUVE Comment

The IP practice of this national full-service firm is a true powerhouse in patent litigation and has been a market leader for years. Few competitors are active in as many proceedings before the French courts as the mixed team led by dual-qualified partners Grégoire Desrousseaux and François Pochart, whom one client counts “among the best in patent litigation”.

JUVE Comment

The patent team of Allen & Overy’s French office continues to put pressure on the market leaders, both through its work for multiple high-profile pharmaceutical companies and via a growing client list in telecommunications. Its visibility on both ends of the patent litigation spectrum is undoubtedly helped by highly regarded partners Laëtitia Bénard and David Por, who steer the life sciences and telecommuncations teams respectively. Perhaps one of the most important cases for the firm has been the dispute over cancer drug fingolimod, where Béna...

JUVE Comment

The patent team at international firm Bird & Bird is continually recognised for its strong base of international clients, and the close cooperation between its European offices – in this respect, the French team is no exception. Under the guidance of partner Anne-Charlotte Le Bihan, whom the market considers “a tough opponent” in patent proceedings, the firm’s Paris office is hot on the heels of the market leaders, with the team acting for several high-profile clients in the pharmaceutical sector, including Allergan concerning glaucoma treatmen...

JUVE Comment

The national full-service firm boasts a large IP team with a strong reputation for patent litigation, which is a challenger to the market leaders. Partners Thierry Mollet-Viéville and Thomas Cuche regularly draw attention for their work in high-profile disputes. Mollet-Viéville litigated for Hutchinson in the dispute against Tyron Runflat and Global Wheel, which recently resulted in a landmark decision by the Supreme Court.

JUVE Comment

Known particularly for litigation in life sciences, the patent practice of this national full-service law firm is one of the main challengers to the French market leaders. Notable originators from the pharma and biotechnology sectors like Sanofi, Bristol-Myers Squibb and Celltrion regularly bank on the team in high-profile litigation. It is active for Ono Pharmaceutical, for instance, in a landmark lawsuit at the Supreme Court concerning SPCs.

JUVE Comment

One of the challengers to the market-leading patent litigation practices in France, the Paris litigation team at Hogan Lovells is small with just four litigators. This is especially true when compared with the two market leaders August Debouzy and Hoyng ROKH Monegier. The exceptional visibility of lead partner Stanislas Roux-Vaillard, however, makes up for this disadvantage. The young team in this international firm also benefits from a steady stream of high-end clients from the global patent practice’s excellent network

JUVE Comment

This mixed IP boutique has carved out a strong position in litigation as well as prosecution. Few French competitors have mastered the cooperation between lawyers and patent attorneys as seamlessly as Casalonga, a pioneer of mixed teams in France. In this aspect, the boutique more closely resembles German firms such as Vossius & Partner or Hoffmann Eitle. Many of the patent attorneys from Casalonga boast years of experience in litigation. Companies from the life sciences sector trust in the vast legal and technical expertise of the team, which ...

Other Rankings

• Patent Filing

JUVE Comment

The French team of this US firm is strongly positioned in the market thanks to its presence in a broad technical spectrum of patent litigation. Over the past twelve months, Jones Day was again able to increase its presence in many French proceedings with well-known Thomas Bouvet as the only partner in the team.

JUVE Comment

With an impressive track record in pharma litigation, this IP boutique enjoys a strong position in the French market. Name partner and founder Denis Schertenleib, whom a competitor describes as “an essential figure in pharma litigation in France”, also boasts a background in biotechnology that he brings into play for his pharma clients. The team nurtures strong, long-established ties to generics manufacturers like Sandoz and Zentiva. Schertenleib has been especially active of late in numerous cases for Viatris (formerly Mylan), for which the IP...

JUVE Comment

The Paris patent team of this international full-service law firm has established itself well on the Paris market with litigation for notable clients from the electronics sector and for national research institutes. This is chiefly thanks to young partner Loïc Lemercier, who came on board from Clifford Chance in early 2021 and has since propelled Dentons’ patent practice development and raised its visibility.

JUVE Comment

The French patent team of the international full-service firm is pulling ahead of its practices in the UK and Germany. It continues to be very visible for innovator pharmaceutical clients such as Regeneron; while active litigation over Praluent finished in 2021, the team around Pauline Debré continues to work for the company in other cases. “She is very conscientious with a great quality of work,” says a competitor. Similarly, a client commends the team for its deep knowledge of pharmaceuticals. However, most notably the practice is working on ...

JUVE Comment

Over the past few years, European firm Pinsent Masons has increased its visibility in France. Like the London and Dutch offices, the well-established Paris practice is focused on expanding the patent client base in several sectors. The French patent team is demonstrating this via an increasing number of cross-border instructions, especially on the generic drug company and biosimilar side: for example, in the past year it has won new client Zentiva, for which it acted against Novartis in the pan-European battle over cancer drug fingolimod. The v...

JUVE Comment

For its small size, this well-positioned team is active in an impressive amount of patent litigation for international clients in the French part of pan-European or even global proceedings. Litigation for Fresenius Medical Care and Zentiva has helped to raise the visibility of the team, led by Benjamin May. This experience also earned the practice a spot on the panel of an international generics manufacturer. Alongside a solid base of clients in pharma, medical device manufacturers also bank on Aramis. The practice added clients from digital te...

JUVE Comment

This IP boutique is well positioned in patent litigation, often acting for an international client base. This includes renowned life sciences companies like Merck Millipore and Estar Medical, which have banked on the small law firm for years. French mobile phone manufacturer Wiko also features on the regular client list. Catherine Mateu is currently representing Wiko in a dispute over mobile phone packaging. This set-up regularly attracts new clients, including most recently a US technology group and an Asian mobile phone manufacturer, which th...

JUVE Comment

The well-positioned patent team of this European IP boutique owes its current visibility in the French market to the SEP suits for NPEs Intellectual Ventures and IPCom. Frontman Julien Fréneaux has a good reputation for his experience in extensive telecoms cases. Despite a setback at the Paris patent court, Intellectual Ventures is showing great perseverance and loyalty to Bardehle. This case, currently the largest litigation series in the telecoms sector, is unlikely to be over any time soon and will keep the team busy for a long time to come.

JUVE Comment

This small Paris IP boutique is well positioned in patent litigation for clients from a wide array of technical fields. Close connections to small and midsized companies in Germany ensure a steady flow of work, from the life sciences and automotive sectors among others. Major corporations occasionally bank on the small team as well, such as a multinational specialist in electrical and digital building infrastructures, which the team advised on a dispute over cabling solutions for multimedia connectivity. One of the partners also specialises in ...

JUVE Comment

The well-positioned IP team of this full-service firm is characterised by a broad set-up and conducts patent litigation for mainly midsized companies from various industries. The team attracted attention with its litigation for Tyron Runflat in a landmark Supreme Court case against Hutchinson. But the team is rarely seen in such high-stakes patent suits, in contrast to other IP teams in national firms like Aramis or Duclos Thorne Mollet-Viéville. Instead, de Gaulle Fleurance takes a broad approach and advises on all IP matters, often on the int...

JUVE Comment

Like many other IP firms of its size, this boutique is well positioned in patent litigation for clients in a broad range of industries, mainly SMEs and the French branches of international companies. Experienced litigator Emmanuel de Marcellus frequently litigates for smaller, specialised companies or individuals against major corporations. He advised patent holder Ferid Allani in a dispute against Google and Apple over mobile operating systems, substantially raising the law firm’s visibility in telecommunications.

JUVE Comment

Best known for its prosecution work, the mixed IP firm has continuously strengthened its team of lawyers in recent years and is now well positioned in the French patent litigation market. The teamwork between the firm’s litigators and patent attorneys is now as well-oiled as at Casalonga and this close cooperation is visibly bearing fruit. Long-time prosecution clients like Naval Group and ArcelorMittal not only rely on the team in EPO oppositions but are increasingly calling on the firm for patent disputes before the French civil courts.

Other Rankings

• Patent Filing

JUVE Comment

Reed Smith is now harvesting the fruits of its growth efforts of the past few years. The IP practice of this international full-service firm has become well established for patent litigation in a broad range of sectors. It is above all the increasing market presence of the young dual-qualified partner Thierry Lautier that has boosted the visibility of the patent practice of late. He is very active in litigation for some well-known clients from the digital communication and automotive industry, for example alongside practice head Marianne Schaff...

JUVE Comment

This small IP boutique is especially well established for patent litigation in life sciences, mechanical engineering and electronics. Given its size, it is seen unusually often in cases for well-known pharma clients, such as Bayer or Hoffmann-La Roche. The firm is also active in an impressive amount of litigation for a chiefly midsized client base. Close and long-established contacts among German midsized companies are also a steady source of work, for instance for media technology company Kindermann. The team frequently works with the German p...