Simmons & Simmons partner joins Carpmaels & Ransford in London

Carpmaels & Ransford is one of the few UK firms to have made a successful start at the UPC. The mixed outfit is now expanding its litigation capabilities specifically with a view to the new court. To this end, it has recruited Andrew Hutchinson, a renowned patent litigator in the London market.

Hutchinson (45) began his career at Jones Day in 2005. In 2010, he moved to the IP practice of Simmons & Simmons, where he was made partner in 2017. There he was mainly active in extensive pharmaceutical disputes, most recently for Grünenthal against Teva over testosterone therapy Nebido and for Bayer against Teva over cancer drug sorafenib.

Andrew Hutchinson

According to Carpmaels & Ransford, the expansion of the litigation team comes in response to growing client demand for the firm’s litigation services, particularly in relation to the UPC.

The firm has more than 90 qualified UPC representatives and 20 litigators with experience in national and UPC litigation.

Life sciences expertise

Carpmaels & Ransford was present very early on in the UPC’s first life sciences disputes. It represented Sanofi-Aventis and Regeneron against Amgen over cholesterol-lowering drug evolocumab/Praluent, for example.

The firm also represented Curio Bioscience against 10x Genomics in a case over spatial detection of nucleic acid in a tissue sample and, together with Freshfields, it advised Novartis and Genentech against Celltrion over a biosimilar of asthma drug Xolair.

Speaking about the move Andrew Hutchinson said, “I have watched the impressive growth of the Carpmaels & Ransford team over the last few years, and I’m excited to be part of the next important phase of the team’s development.”

Simmons no stranger to UPC

Simmons & Simmons also has a strong presence at the UPC. The firm usually relies on international teams that include the London patent practice. For example, a team led by German lawyers but comprising lawyers and patent attorneys from the Amsterdam, Munich, Milan, and London offices represented SiBio in the intensive battle against Abbott at various UPC divisions over glucose-monitoring devices.

London partner Priya Nagpal is also involved in the litigation for Network System Technologies over semiconductors. In Samsung Bioepis’ dispute with Alexion over biosimilar drug Soliris, London partner Scott Parker took the lead in UK and at the UPC.

The London team is also coordinating various pan-European patent cases, such as for Samsung Bioepis against Janssen over Stelara and for UniQure against Pfizer over gene therapy for the treatment of haemophilia B.

Not the first to go

Simmons & Simmons will be able to cushion the loss of Hutchinson thanks to the remaining 33 lawyers and two patent attorneys in its London patent practice.

Nevertheless, Hutchinson is not the only partner to leave Simmons & Simmons’ European litigation team recently. Last month JUVE Patent reported that Dutch litigator Bas Berghuis and Sebastien Versaevel will be leaving the full-service law firm by the end of the year to join Taylor Wessing. Furthermore, Dutch patent attorney Johan Renes joined Plasseraud early this year.