Haseltine Lake Kempner grows patent litigation team with Gowling partner

After over 20 years at Gowling WLG, Jamie Rowlands (50) is moving to the partnership at European mixed IP firm, Haseltine Lake Kempner (HLK). Based in London, Rowlands brings specific experience in areas of technical patent litigation such as mobile communication, software and medical devices to the HLK team.

In particular, his practice will focus on these sectors, as well as aviation and military defence. He will also be more deeply involved in other areas of IP, for example trademarks.

In 2019, the firm Haseltine Lake merged with Leeds-based Kempner & Partners to reinforce its patent litigation practice. Overall, across the UK and Germany the HLK team has five patent litigation partners and six patent attorney partners, who also have experience in patent litigation. As well as offices in Munich and the Netherlands, HLK also has a staffed office in Guangzhou.

Jamie Rowlands

Rowlands’ China expertise

Jamie Rowlands joined Gowling WLG, previously known as Wragge & Co., where he qualified in 2001. The firm elevated him to partner in January 2015, at which time he also moved to Guangzhou, China to spearhead the firm’s presence in patent and IP matters at the Chinese courts.

During his time there, Rowlands worked predominantly for western companies on cases against Chinese entities, for example for clients including Dyson and Aston Martin. He also enforced invention patents, utility models and design patents across various sectors. Rowlands returned to Gowling’s London office in 2019.

Speaking to JUVE Patent, Jamie Rowlands says, “HLK’s litigation team is a dynamic and growing practice. The team forms an integral part of the firm which has the benefit of offering a ‘cradle to grave’ IP services for its clients.

It has a strong presence in Germany, which puts the firm in a good position for the upcoming UPC. I am also looking forward to working alongside the firm’s award-winning patent attorneys, as well as being more involved in the firm’s broader IP offering to expand its presence in Europe and beyond.”

Alexandra Brodie, partner and co-chair of the Gowling WLG global tech group, says, “Jamie has all of Gowling’s best wishes – on both a personal and professional level, we are sad to see him go but he will be a great success in his new firm. Our patent and IP practice remains well-positioned to handle all types of cases, and we recently welcomed Sharmela Kalmer into the partnership. With Sharmela’s wealth of experience, and with our Paris head of patent litigation Celine Bey leading the firm’s UPC push alongside Gordon Harris in the UK, we are looking forward to seeing what the next few months bring.”

Gowling for InterDigital

Most recently, Rowlands was heavily involved as part of the Gowling team, alongside partners Alexandra Brodie and Matt Hervey, which acted for InterDigital in its fierce dispute with Lenovo. Gowling is also leading parallel FRAND proceedings in China and the US, with the firm’s Beijing and Guangzhou offices providing support.

The case, which covered multiple standard essential and implentation patents, led to the UK High Court handing down its second-ever FRAND judgment in March 2023, in which presiding judge James Mellor ordered implementer Lenovo to pay a FRAND rate of $138.7 million while also declaring both parties’ previous offers as non-FRAND. However, in some of the case’s technical trials, the NPE changed representation to the London office of Bird & Bird.

Gowling currently has five patent-specialist partners across its UK offices, soon welcoming its sixth transactional-focused lawyer in Sharmela Kalmer. In 2022, Jonathan Ball returned to a partner position at Norton Rose Fulbright, where he had previously spent eleven years before joining Gowling alongside Huw Evans in 2019. Well-known patent litigation expert and former partner Gordon Harris is now in an of counsel position, although he remains actively involved in litigation and in the firm as part of Gowling’s global IP leadership team.