JUVE Patent rankings 2025

Ones to Watch UK 2025: Emily Bottle

In JUVE Patent’s new UK ranking, four patent litigators stood out among the up-and-coming lawyers in the market. Here, Mathieu Klos explains how Emily Bottle became Herbert Smith Freehills' latest UK patent partner appointment, despite working primarily from Milan.

8 April 2025 by Mathieu Klos

Emily Bottle, newly appointed partner at Herbert Smith Freehills

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 Emily Bottle, newly appointed partner at Herbert Smith Freehills, as one of the current ‘Ones to Watch’ in the UK patent market.

If you begin your career in the London patent litigation team of Herbert Smith Freehills, there is a good chance you will work on life sciences cases. This is especially true if, like Emily Bottle, you have a natural sciences degree with a focus on biochemistry from the University of Cambridge. Herbert Smith Freehills has a strong specialty in life sciences, with many notable clients on the originator side, such as Sanofi, Biogen and Hoffmann-La Roche.

At the end of her science degree, and having done research projects at the MRC’s Mitochondrial Biology Unit and at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory in the US, Emily Bottle (35) quickly realised that she did not want to spend the rest of her life as a researcher. She converted to law and in 2013 she joined Herbert Smith Freehills — initially as a trainee solicitor in London and Tokyo. “At first I looked broadly at different areas of law; IP law was not my initial sole focus,” says Bottle.

But after a stint in the IP team working on a case for Gilead against Idenix, she stayed and became a patent litigator. “Instead of just researching one topic as a researcher, today I can look into a new field with each new case – whether that be chemistry, biotechnology or genetics. I talk directly to the inventors and leading scientific experts, constantly come into contact with new scientific and legally exciting issues, and work out litigation strategies with a wide range of people. It’s highly varied and motivating.”

Voting for a transatlantic merger

Bottle has been at the traditional London law firm with its full-service approach for over a decade. She became a partner in the patent team in May 2024 — a genuine homegrown talent.

Her partner appointment coincides with eventful times – some might even say turbulent. The Unified Patent Court recently began operations, with Herbert Smith Freehills launching one of the first major pharmaceutical lawsuits for Sanofi against various generics companies there. Meanwhile, the economic conditions for patent litigation have become less certain. “Actually, not that much about my day-to-day work has changed as a result of the partner promotion; I basically handle the same cases as before. However, I am now confronted with new tasks and responsibilities relating to the people and culture of our firm,” says Bottle.

Her first year as partner saw the vote on the merger with US law firm Kramer Levin. The partners’ vote ended last Friday and thus fell while the new US administration is putting considerable pressure on US law firms and the justice system. In the end, partners voted in favour of the merger.

Working from Milan and London

But if, like Bottle, you work predominantly from Milan, far from the hustle and bustle of London, you probably take a more relaxed view of events. Bottle has worked from Milan with her mentor Sebastian Moore and various Italian patent partners since 2018.

When Italy joined the UPC project and it became clear that the central divisions for life sciences would go to Milan, the firm decided to establish a specialist team there. Since then, Bottle has mainly worked from the Italian city, but flies to the firm’s headquarters in London for several days a week.

Bottle does not currently play a role in the firm’s first major UPC case. Her focus remains on UK patent law and the coordination of pan-European cases. For example, she is involved in the pan-European disputes for Sanofi over MS drug Aubagio and for Foundation Medicine against Guardant over sequencing biopsy tests. In these cases, as well as in Biogen’s dispute over MS treatment Tecfidera, she works closely with Sebastian Moore. The team is not currently conducting any UK litigation for Biogen, but is involved in coordinating proceedings in 20 European countries.

Making her mark in diagnostics

Bottle’s favourite case was the now concluded dispute for Ariosa Diagnostics against Illumina and Sequenom. The two companies had attacked Ariosa’s ‘Harmony test’ with infringement claims. At its core, it was a novel in-utero diagnostic technology. Ariosa initially lost, but subsequently developed an alternative version for which they sought a declaration of non-infringement in the UK.

“The case was of course very close to my field of study from a technical point of view, but what I found particularly interesting was that it involved medical technology and software, in addition to biochemistry. It also showed how a new field of diagnostics was developing extremely dynamically from practically nothing,” says Bottle. “Both sides fought very hard for the new market share.” The field of diagnostics and sequencing has since become the patent litigation specialist’s main area of expertise.