Laura is a European and UK patent attorney, and a representative before the Unified Patent Court. She is recognised in the Legal 500 by her clients as being both innovative and practical in her approach.
Laura graduated from the University of Cambridge with a First Class Master of Science Degree in Physics and Materials Science and joined Dehns in 2003. She became a Partner of the firm in 2013.
Laura has many years of experience in preparing European oppositions and defending European patents under opposition, having represented her clients in around 100 opposition cases. She routinely attends EPO opposition and appeal proceedings, more recently adapting her advocacy skills to the current video conference format. Working for clients such as Otis Elevator Company and Strix Limited, she is comfortable with handling a range of technology areas from mechanical engineering to materials to computer-implemented control.
Laura has worked as part of a multi-national team of attorneys to enforce and defend her client’s intellectual property rights around the world, with a particular focus on patent litigation in Europe and China. She was part of Otis’ European litigation team for a suite of Otis patents and utility models (relating to elevator belts and traction belt drive elevator systems) enforced against Schindler in multiple jurisdictions, which culminated in a settlement in 2014 with Schindler paying for a licence. For Strix she has given support to Chinese attorneys defending multiple invalidity actions and has a working knowledge of the Chinese system of IP courts in relation to patents and utility models.
Laura has been recognised in the Legal 500 for her “practical” and “innovative” approach. She always works with her clients to seek a pragmatic solution within their commercial context. On many occasions she has been successful in securing a favourable licence via the strategic use of contentious legal proceedings.