Finnegan hires Kirkland & Ellis litigator for London office

Jin Ooi began his legal career in 2011 at Australian firm Corrs Chambers Westgarth in Sydney. In November 2014, he moved to London to join Allen & Overy where he became a senior associate. Here, he was part of the team around Nicola Dagg representing Pfizer subsidiary Warner-Lambert in enforcing its second medical use patent for the blockbuster drug pregabalin, sold unter the brand name Lyrica.

In November 2018, Ooi moved to Kirkland & Ellis as a junior partner along with Nicola Dagg and three other patent litigators. There, he focused on patent litigation in the pharmaceutical, biotech and medical devices sectors, as well as in consumer goods and SEPs.

Jin Ooi

In the pharma field, Ooi acted for Boehringer Ingelheim in obtaining interim injunction relief against Dr Reddy’s concerning patents covering the diabetes and heart failure drug Jardiance (empagliflozin). He also represented Astellas and The Regents of the University of California in defending validity challenges brought by generic companies on patents protecting prostate cancer drug Xtandi (enzalutamide).

But it was the Supreme Court case for Warner-Lambert that was Ooi’s most prominent case. In 2022, JUVE Patent listed Ooi in its Ones to Watch in UK patent litigation.

FRAND track record

Beyond life sciences, Ooi has played a role in several of the leading UK cases on interim licences and declarations in the FRAND space. He acted for Samsung, Lenovo and Xiaomi in obtaining interim licence declarations against ZTE, Ericsson and Panasonic respectively. Ooi was also involved in the war over heat-not-burn e-cigarettes for British American Tobacco against Philip Morris.

He has also handled trade secrets arbitration in the LNG carrier and aviation sectors. His practice further extends to commercial and regulatory disputes involving life sciences companies, as well as related transactional work, including support for mergers and acquisitions in regulated industries.

At Finnegan, Ooi joins the London office as partner. Darren Jiron, managing partner of the London office, says the addition reflects rising client demand for coordinated strategies across the UK, US and Europe. “Jin’s experience in managing these parallel proceedings and advising on complex IP and commercial issues will further strengthen our ability to serve clients where they need us most,” Jiron says.

Growth through lateral hires

Ooi himself points to Finnegan’s international set-up as a key driver for the move. “Finnegan’s market-leading IP practice and its ability to bring together international litigation teams in key jurisdictions in a cohesive way, in one firm, was a key factor in my decision to join,” he says.

Finnegan’s renown mainly stems from its mixed IP practice in the US where it is among the country’s leading prosecution and litigation practices. The firm expanded into Europe long before the launch of the Unified Patent Court, initially opening an office in Brussels, which relocated to London in 2013. The London office is now home to 33 fee earners, most of whom are qualified patent attorneys. Ooi is now the fourth solicitor in the London team.

Finnegan has more than 250 litigators across offices in the US, Germany and the UK, and is also active at the Unified Patent Court. The hire is intended to bolster the firm’s capacity to handle multi-jurisdictional life sciences and FRAND disputes in Europe.

Finnegan’s second European office is in Munich, which it also expanded significantly following the launch of the UPC. In January 2022, Finnegan launched the office with a team from Baker & McKenzie led by partner Jochen Herr. The firm has since strengthened the German team with Antje Brambrink from Allen & Overy and Johannes Druschel from Quinn Emanuel. In line with the firm’s strategy, the German team also has a mixed structure comprising 8 lawyers and 5 patent attorneys.

Mixed UPC approach

Unlike Ooi’s former firm, Finnegan is not only active in patent litigation with mixed teams, but also plays an active role in UPC litigation. For instance, the German team recently represented MediaTek against Daedalus Prime and Huawei in UPC cases, as well as the automotive supplier ZF Friedrichshafen against a German competitor. Ooi is not registered as a representative at the UPC. However, his appointment is part of the firm’s European expansion, which also aims to establish a strong presence in the UPC litigation business.

Kirkland & Ellis, meanwhile, focuses its patent litigation practice on London. It currently refrains from direct involvement in UPC proceedings with no lawyers admitted as representatives before the UPC. Nevertheless, the London team is involved in multiple UPC-related international patent disputes through US and UK cases. The team also frequently coordinates European disputes.

Just last week, the firm announced the addition of a barrister as partner, Tim Austen joined from renowned London set Three New Square. The team now consists of six partners and eleven associates.