Bird & Bird brings back former associate Huw Edwards as London partner from Nokia
Bird & Bird has hired Huw Edwards as a partner in its London IP practice. Edwards returns to the firm after a decade at Nokia, where he most recently headed litigation operations and helped steer the Finnish company's high-profile patent campaigns against companies such as Amazon, Hisense, and Asus.
13 August 2026 by Mathieu Klos
Edwards began his career as a trainee solicitor at Linklaters in 2000, before joining Bird & Bird as a solicitor in 2002. In 2007, he moved to Australian firm Freehills as a senior associate, having previously spent time at Mallesons Stephen Jaques.
In 2011, Edwards transitioned in-house, joining generics manufacturer Sandoz in the German town of Holzkirchen as patent litigation counsel. He moved to Nokia in April 2014, initially as senior IPR litigation counsel based in Munich and later Espoo, Finland. From August 2021, he served as director of litigation in Munich, before being promoted to director, head of litigation operations, in 2023.
In January 2025, Edwards continued in the same role for Nokia UK.
A decade of Nokia campaigns
During his time at Nokia, Edwards was part of the in-house team behind several of the company’s most prominent multi-jurisdictional patent campaigns. He was involved in the global dispute with Amazon over video streaming technology, which the parties settled in March 2025.
Edwards also worked on Nokia’s coordinated litigation campaign launched in spring 2025 against Acer, Asus and Hisense over H.265 video codec patents at the UPC and Munich Regional Court. Hisense settled in January 2026 through a licence agreement, followed by Acer in a deal that combined a licence with binding arbitration over disputed terms. Nokia struck a similar deal with Asus a few days later.
Further Nokia matters during Edwards’ tenure included the disputes with Warner Bros. and Paramount over streaming-related patents, which Nokia withdrew outside the UK earlier this year after agreeing to let the UK High Court determine a global rate.
In addition to telecommunications, Edwards is known for his work in electronics, engineering, pharmaceuticals, and life sciences. His practice covers global patent assertion strategies and the coordination of multi-jurisdictional litigation campaigns, with experience across European jurisdictions as well as America, Australia, India, Asia, and at the UPC.
Return to Bird & Bird
Bird & Bird has long acted as one of Nokia’s regular external advisors in Europe. In particular, the German, Dutch, and UK teams frequently represent the telecommunications group in ongoing litigation. The teams have also maintained close ties for many years. Clemens Heusch, Nokia’s head of global litigation and disputes, for example, was a former associate in Bird & Bird’s patent litigation team until he moved to Nokia in 2008.
Furthermore, Richard Vary worked for Nokia before joining Bird & Bird as a partner in 2016. He is now the core contact for the Finish company in the firm’s London litigation team. Alongside other partners, Vary represents Nokia in the UK RAND rate-setting proceedings against Warner Bros. and Paramount.
At Bird & Bird, Edwards joins the London IP team led by co-head Tom Snaith. Snaith says Edwards’ appointment reflects the firm’s “continued investment in our international patent litigation practice”, pointing to his experience in “complex, multi-jurisdictional patent disputes, particularly in the SEP space”. (Co-author: Laura King)
