Osborne Clarke bolsters German patent litigation practice with Frankfurt team from BluePort

Effective 16 November 2026, Nora Keßler will join Osborne Clarke as equity partner in Frankfurt. She brings with her counsel Christoph Palzer and associate Catinca Vidan. The hires grow Osborne Clarke’s German patent litigation practice from seven to ten lawyers and establish an IP presence at the Frankfurt office, which only opened in September.

Keßler advises domestic and international clients in patent litigation, both before German courts and the Unified Patent Court. Her client roster includes pharmaceutical and medical technology companies as well as automotive suppliers. She began her career at Jones Day in 2004. Keßler became partner at Frankfurt IP boutique Klinkert in 2013, where she took over as head of practice following the retirement of name partner Friedrich Klinkert in autumn 2023. Among her long-standing clients are Sanofi, cosmetics company Cosnova and pharmaceutical manufacturer Advanz Pharma.

Palzer, who was admitted to the bar in 2019, was most recently salary partner at BluePort Legal. He focuses on patent litigation and, like Keßler, is a qualified UPC representative. Vidan completed her legal traineeship in Frankfurt and has been fully qualified since 2024.

From Klinkert to BluePort to Osborne Clarke

The move marks the second change of firm for the team within less than two years. In late 2024, Keßler and her colleagues left Klinkert as part of the dissolution of the Frankfurt IP boutique, joining sports law specialist BluePort Legal to establish a Frankfurt office. At BluePort Legal, the team recently made its UPC debut. In June 2026, Keßler filed an action on behalf of Japanese medical technology company iCAT against Dentsply Sirona at the Mannheim local division.

Growing litigation footprint

With the additions, Osborne Clarke’s German patent litigation team now comprises partners Tim Reinhard and Johannes Graf Ballestrem, counsel Stephan Reisner and four associates, alongside the incoming trio. Whilst the firm maintains a well-established patent litigation practice in London, the German IP team has so far had a relatively low profile in the market. With the arrival of new team members who in their previous roles enjoyed a certain degree of market recognition, this could change. Practice head Reinhard said the hires would accelerate the firm’s push into patent litigation nationally and at the UPC, particularly in cross-border disputes.

In parallel, Osborne Clarke is strengthening its life sciences regulatory offering in Munich. Katrin Helle will join from White & Case as counsel on 1 November 2026. She advises on regulatory compliance, health tech regulation and digital platforms. Helle is intended to complement the firm’s patent litigation practice at the interface between regulatory approval and patent disputes in the pharmaceutical and MedTech sectors.

The German expansion fits into a broader European build-out at Osborne Clarke. In 2026, the firm added partners to its patent litigation practices in Spain and the Netherlands, having previously promoted two partners in Belgium in 2024. Further partner hires are planned in France and Italy.