Simmons & Simmons strengthens Dutch offering with new hires

Oscar Lamme (40) previously held the role of counsel in the De Brauw Blackstone Westbroek IP team. He joins Simmons & Simmons as a partner and is a well-known young patent litigator in the Dutch patent market.

Oscar Lamme

Most recently, Lamme worked in a De Brauw team for Sisvel in various mobile communications cases. The company is currently engaged in intensive litigation against Chinese mobile communications manufacturer Xiaomi.

The Simmons & Simmons patent team also has a strong speciality in mobile communications suits. Its clients include Xiaomi, although not in other cases against Sisvel, but rather against Fractus. The latter company is a manufacturer of high-performance antennas.

In the Simmons & Simmons Amsterdam office, Lamme will work alongside existing IP partners Paul Tjiam and Bas Berghuis van Woortman, having spent the last 13 years focusing on patent litigation.

Besides mobile communication cases, Lamme represents a wide variety of multinational clients active in the electronics, biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries.

Oscar Lamme’s arrival at Simmons comes only a day after it became public that another young partner, Mattie de Koning, has left the firm. Today, Koning joins the management team of Belgian flooring company I4F as chief IP officer.

Boosting the presence

Lamme will be accompanied by European patent attorney Sebastien Versaevel (30), who arrives as supervising associate. In his former job, Versaevel worked as patent attorney and legal IP manager at international flooring company, Unilin. This is one of the competitors of I4F. Versaevel specialises in physics and biotechnology.

Sebastien Versaevel

Simmons & Simmons’ head of IP in Amsterdam, Bas Berghuis, says, “The arrival of Oscar and Sebastien follows the launch of a prosecution practice in the Netherlands earlier this year, and the recent hire of patent specialists in Munich, Paris and Milan.”

Previously, the Amsterdam team had two professionals, dual-qualified as patent attorneys and lawyers, in its ranks. Two UK patent attorneys are located in the London office.

However, Simmons & Simmons started building a mixed patent practice very late, compared to other international patent teams such as Bird & Bird.

In Amsterdam, only IP boutiques such as Brinkhof and Hoyng ROKH Monegier have taken this approach so far.

The expansion of the Amsterdam team comes only a few weeks after Simmons & Simmons announced a partner arrival in Munich. The European patent team, led by the London office, has high ambitions in Europe – for example, playing a leading role in large cross-border cases.

The team also wants to offer a comprehensive range of services in case the Unified Patent Court opens its doors. However, in March, the Federal Constitutional Court put a stop to the ratification of the German UPC legislation.

Nevertheless, the firm considers bolstering the team in Munich central to this aim. The European team is also represented by renowned teams in Amsterdam and Paris.