Bristows strengthens its expertise in Life Sciences and Technology with the promotion of five new partners
28.01.2025
The promotions of Adrian Chew, Nick Cross, Jamie Drucker, Claire Phipps-Jones and Wes Walker (effective 1 May 2025) enhance Bristows’ market leading position in the Life Sciences and Technology sectors.
Adrian is an experienced patent litigator specialising in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology sectors. He regularly advises several of the top pharmaceutical companies in the world on the validity and enforcement of patent and SPC rights, including those relating to a number of blockbuster products. Adrian also acts for clients in contractual disputes involving patent rights, both before the High Court and in private international arbitrations. In addition to his expertise in UK proceedings, Adrian frequently assists clients with the coordination of global litigation across Europe (including the EPO and UPC), Asia, South America and the Middle East.
Nick advises a broad range of UK and international clients on a variety of corporate and commercial transactions, including mergers and acquisitions, venture capital investments, corporate restructurings, initial public offerings and various other public financing and strategic transactions. Nick has a particular focus on transactions in the Life Sciences and TMT sectors.
Jamie is a data protection expert who advises some of the world’s biggest technology companies on business-critical regulatory investigations, global product launches, major security breaches and privacy related litigation.
He has particular expertise advising clients on contentious adtech matters, having successfully helped several global adtech platforms respond to regulatory enforcement action (both in the UK and across Europe) and defend compensation claims in multiple jurisdictions. He also frequently advises leading social media and video sharing platforms on regulatory investigations and on compliance issues such as children’s data, the training of generative AI models, and the processing of sensitive personal data.
Claire is a contentious IP specialist, with a particular interest in pharmaceuticals and biotechnology. She is regularly engaged in complex patent infringement and revocation actions in the High Court and Court of Appeal, including preliminary injunction applications. She has assisted with judicial review on regulatory matters, complex damages actions, applications for interim and summary relief, pre-action and third party disclosure. In addition to UK actions, Claire spends much of her time advising leading pharmaceutical companies on the global coordination of their patent litigation, developing and implementing strategies involving regulatory/competition law aspects. Her understanding of the legal and regulatory systems in EU member states means that she is also well-placed to provide strategic UPC advice.
Wes is a commercial dispute resolution lawyer with 15 years’ experience of advising clients on their business-critical matters. His practice mainly focuses on advising clients in the life sciences and technology sectors. Wes is regularly retained at an early stage to give pre-litigation strategic advice but, if the gloves come off, he has plenty of experience of going to trial and achieving excellent results in heavyweight litigation. Wes regularly works in tandem with our patent litigators to provide a seamless service to clients on cases that require in-depth technical and/or scientific expertise.
Wes also has particular expertise in arbitration and has handled a number of substantial arbitrations under various institutional rules, with many having underlying technical life sciences subject matter.
Joint Managing Partners:
Adrian Sim: “Adrian, Nick, Jamie, Claire and Wes embody the unique culture here at Bristows and represent the depth of talent we have at the firm. We know that as partners, they will continue to make an invaluable contribution to the success of our clients and also our firm. On behalf of everyone at Bristows, I am delighted to welcome them to the partnership.”
Stephen Smith: “With deep expertise in complex work spanning patent litigation and commercial disputes, to data protection and corporate, Adrian, Nick, Jamie, Claire and Wes strengthen Bristows’ position in the market. This is a really exciting time for Bristows, and we are thrilled to be able to grow our partnership with such exceptional and diverse people.”