Ones to Watch UK 2024: Edward Cronan

Every year, JUVE Patent carries out extensive research in the UK patent market, culminating in the publication of the UK patent ranking. Our latest research highlighted Edward Cronan, junior barrister at 11 South Square, as one of five ‘Ones to Watch’ in the UK patent market for 2024. The individual Ones to Watch 2024 articles are published alphabetically by surname.

In a market which can sometimes buzz with lateral hires and partner moves, it remains unusual for barristers to take the leap of moving between sets. Yet this is exactly what junior barrister Edward Cronan did towards the end of 2023 – “moving to 11 South Square was a great chance to work with the top people in the patent field”, he says.

This arena is clearly where the 33-year-old Cronan sees himself headed: having begun his patent career as a trainee, then associate, at Hogan Lovells’ IP team in London, he moved to begin a pupillage at chancery set Hogarth Chambers in 2018. Now, four years later, his name continuously appears in multiple judgments alongside some of the city’s top KCs.

New chambers, new opportunities

For Cronan, the draw of patent has always been in the complex technology which underpins his advocacy duties. Being a barrister, he says, is a good fit for his personality: “I still get the collegiate side of chatting with solicitors and communicating with colleagues, but I also have the time to learn things and work on cases uninterrupted, in a way you just don’t get as a solicitor.”

This allows him to delve deep into the subject matter – despite a degree in natural sciences from the University of Cambridge, he is happy to be involved in cases involving all manner of technologies. This includes working for AIM Sport in the well-publicised case against Supponor over sport stadium advertising, as well as for SOLiD Technologies against Commscope over fibreoptic cables.

Case highlight, Nokia

This mixture is reflective of his interests. Indeed, for Cronan, the draw of patent law has always been, “the weird, the wonderful and the challenging.” But, the real stand-out so far is his work for Nokia in the long-running battle against Oppo, wher he appeared for the claimant in a technical trial in 2022. Here, the High Court judge ruled that certain Oppo and OnePlus phones had infringed Nokia’s valid EP 560, with Cronan appearing alongside 8 New Square barrister Michael Tappin.

“The Nokia vs. Oppo NEP case represented the use of so many different aspects of patent law and procedure,” he explains. “Alternative service by email, service out of the jurisdiction, conducting experiments in Finland, obtaining disclosure from the chipset manufacturer in the US courts, some quite extreme confidentiality issues, and a fascinating deep dive into source code and chip schematics … all in all, it was really satisfying to win that for the client.”

And, with his feet firmly on the ground at a new, leading IP chambers, Cronan is in an excellent position to continue attracting instructions from such major companies. All this will help him build on his budding reputation as one of London’s go-to IP barristers.

Read JUVE Patent’s analysis of 11 South Square in the JUVE Patent UK ranking 2024.

Find the full Ones to Watch 2024 list here.