Kirkland & Ellis patent partner makes lateral move to Linklaters

Katie Coltart (38) started her career at Allen & Overy in 2011, where she worked on a variety of IP proceedings in various sectors. Not only was she active at UK courts, but also the European Patent Office, the UK IPO and the EUIPO. She also advised on IP matters in transactions and on licensing contracts. In 2016, she joined KJC Legal, where she advised global pharma companies on patent matters.

From Kirkland to Linklaters

Katie Coltart

In 2018, Coltart joined Kirkland & Ellis as a partner, where she made a name for herself in litigation in the healthcare sector.

Coltart has acted as lead counsel in various high-profile cross-border medical device proceedings. She acted for Advanced Bionics against Med-El over cochlear implants and for Meril Life Sciences against Edwards over heart valves. In addition, she was involved in several of Kirkland’s instructions in the telecommunications sector.

She was part of the team advising TCL in the UK part of the SEP dispute against Philips. Recently, she was active as a professional support lawyer, supporting the team in education, knowledge management and legal updates.

Coltart will take up her new role at Linklaters on 30 October.

Shot in the arm for London practice

At Linklaters, Coltart joins a team that is best known for litigation for pharmaceutical clients such as Sanofi and GSK. The German and French teams are making great strides when it comes to winning clients from the mobile communications or high-tech sectors, such as Seoul Semiconductor concerning LEDs. So far, however, the London practice has been somewhat less visible in these sectors.

The addition of Katie Coltart now complements the firm’s offering with her experience in medical devices and telecommunications. The London IP practice now has 14 lawyers dealing with patent matters, of which four are partners.

Julia Schönbohm, Linklaters partner and Global Head of TMT/IP, says, “The market for patent litigation has seen significant growth over the last few years, as life sciences patent disputes have become increasingly complex and the number of telecommunications and tech litigation cases has increased dramatically. With Katie’s impressive experience in complex, multi-jurisdictional IP disputes, her expertise complements the growth of our IP litigation capabilities and meets growing client demand.”

Katie Coltart says, “I am very excited to be joining Linklaters – the strength of the firm’s global platform is a very attractive draw as clients look for solutions to increasingly complex, multi-jurisdictional disputes. With the increasing role the UPC will play in pan-European litigation I am looking forward to cooperating with the strong patent teams of Linklaters in Europe.”

Kirkland appoints partners

Coltart’s former firm Kirkland & Ellis is one of the market-leading IP teams in London. It has grown steadily since its entry into the London market in 2018. Following Katie Coltart’s departure, the practice comprises 21 lawyers, including nine partners.

In July, IP partner John de Rohan-Truba joined technology firm Elvie as legal counsel. At the beginning of October, Kirkland & Ellis appointed two new IP partners, Rory Clarke and William Jensen. Both have already gained experience in high-profile patent litigation. For example, they represented Apple in the now-settled dispute against Ericsson and AutoStore in the “robot wars” against Ocado.