Medium-sized, French, large patent attorney team seeks…

Bandpay & Greuter, a medium-sized French patent attorney firm, is a firm that did not particularly advertise for UPC work. But when its first cases came along, it recognised the opportunities the court brings. Bandpay & Greuter is a firm for which success came as a surprise, but which is now actively working at the UPC.

This is a positive example among patent attorney firms in France. But it is also an exception. Many of the large patent attorney firms and large mixed French firms imagined their start at the UPC differently.

Risks for long-standing client relationships

On the one hand, they are now fighting against the advantage of more experienced competitors — many of which come from Germany. Clients are beginning to set more store by the number of concluded UPC proceedings than by long-standing relationships and successful EPO oppositions.

However, this is not the only field in which long-standing, reliable client relationships are faltering. All firms with large patent attorney teams are facing necessary investments in IT to implement the use of AI in prosecution work so as to reduce costs and increase efficiency. These costs hit small and medium-sized law firms particularly hard. Firms such as Plasseraud confidently point out that they have the critical mass to make these investments. Other firms are turning to PE investors and trying to grow quickly.

UPC challenge for French firms

The simultaneous launch of the UPC has helped some mixed law firms from Germany continue their litigation-focused business. The opposite is true for French firms, which feel more challenged by the competition at the new court. Firms such as Casalonga and Plasseraud are looking to advance.

At Casalonga, cooperation between patent attorneys and lawyers is deeply rooted in the firm’s DNA. Most recently, the firm has decided on a development process that should bring it to the top of the European market. To achieve this ambitious goal, Casalonga has recently integrated lateral hires in Düsseldorf and Amsterdam and is driving forward close collaboration on work across all offices. For example, it brought on board SEP expert and lawyer Benjamin Grzimek plus two other lawyers from Fieldfisher in Düsseldorf.

The traditionally pure patent attorney firm Plasseraud has also opened up to lawyers and is now pushing ahead with its European positioning. It initially integrated lawyers in France for national litigation, but continues to work with external lawyers for high-calibre clients. Most recently, François Jonquères, an experienced patent litigator who previously worked at Simmons & Simmons, joined the Paris office to work in UPC litigation. Additionally, the firm opened a new office in Amsterdam at the beginning of the year with the experienced Johan Renes from Simmons & Simmons.

Flexible cooperation as counter-strategy

Regimbeau, one of the top patent attorney firms in France, has taken a different approach. It has entered into a flexible cooperation with the nationally independent law firm Gide. So far, they have only worked on isolated cases at the UPC. However, a slow start does not necessarily mean that the cooperation will not be successful.

Market participants are keeping a close eye on developments, because for many French patent attorney firms, a mixed law firm is not an option. Not least because most are continuing to grow their prosecution business.

Further details on these and other French law firms can be found in the JUVE Patent France ranking 2026.