Nicola Dagg and IP Litigation Team Join London Office of Kirkland

Kirkland & Ellis is pleased to announce that leading intellectual property attorney Nicola Dagg joined the Firm’s London office today. In addition, a talented group of IP lawyers that includes partners Daniel Lim and Katie Coltart and associates Jin Ooi and Steven Baldwin will also join Kirkland in London.

“Nicola is one of the leading lights of the UK intellectual property community. She, Daniel, Katie, Jin and Steven form a first-class team of litigators with comprehensive experience across the spectrum of IP matters that are important to our clients,” said Jeffrey C. Hammes, Chairman of Kirkland’s Global Management Executive Committee. “They are a perfect match for Kirkland’s premier complex litigation practice, and will expand our IP litigation capabilities in Europe.”

Previously the global head of IP at Allen & Overy in London, Ms. Dagg brings more than 20 years of experience handling complex IP disputes and advisory work. Her international practice focuses on patent litigation and breach of confidence disputes. She has particular experience in dealing with the legal and commercial aspects of highly scientific and technologically advanced matters.

Chambers UK ranks Ms. Dagg as a Band 1 attorney for Patent Litigation and Life Sciences: IP/Patent Litigation (2018), noting that she is “obviously excellent,” “brilliant with clients,” and possesses “fantastic commercial judgement.” She is also rated as a “leading individual” for IP by The Legal 500 UK (2017), which calls her a “fantastic rainmaker with a large following.” She has an individual gold ranking in IAM Patent 1000, which noted her “impressive team-building and client-handling skills,” adding that “few people can knit together a multi-disciplinary team so that everyone genuinely pulls together and feels their contributions are valued and respected.”

“Kirkland’s entrepreneurial culture provides a strong platform for building a business,” Ms. Dagg said. “The Firm’s ambition, drive and confidence were very attractive for our team, and we see a huge opportunity to build a top IP litigation practice in London and to serve clients on a global scale.”

Mr. Lim’s practice focuses on life science patent litigation, particularly in the pharmaceutical industry, diagnostics and the emerging fields of precision medicine and cell and gene therapy. His experience spans a broad range of technical fields within life sciences, including oncology, immunology, neurology, molecular diagnostics, formulation science, pharmacokinetics, clinical pharmacology and biostatistics. He also assists clients with the strategic coordination and alignment of complex patent strategy to address loss-of-exclusivity events at a pan-European and global level. Mr. Lim has been recognized as a Rising Star in IP by Managing Intellectual Property in both 2017 and 2018.

“I’m excited about this once-in-a-career opportunity to build a new team from scratch. We believe our team and the Kirkland platform will be a powerful combination for clients,” said Mr. Lim.

Ms. Coltart focuses her practice on patent litigation, particularly in the life sciences and tech sectors. Her experience includes a broad spectrum of technological subject matters including those relating to antibody and other protein biologics, biological product development and screening platforms, checkpoint inhibitor immunotherapies, diagnostics and next generation sequencing technologies, wireless and mobile telecommunications, and e-cigarette/vaping technologies. She also advises on trade secrets, trademark and IP licensing matters in the finance, media and retail sectors.

“We are very excited by this unique opportunity to grow a leading IP litigation practice at Kirkland in London,” Ms. Coltart said. “We believe the Kirkland business model provides an incredibly strong platform for serving our clients globally across the range of IP rights.”

Mr. Ooi’s patent litigation practice focuses on the pharmaceutical and life sciences fields. Most recently, he has grappled with issues of second medical use and plausibility in the Patents Court of the High Court of Justice, English Court of Appeal and U.K. Supreme Court. Mr. Ooi is also experienced in litigating and arbitrating trade secrets disputes in the medical device, tech and aviation sectors, in addition to handling antitrust claims.

Mr. Baldwin has extensive experience representing clients in contentious and non-contentious patent, life sciences regulatory, copyright, trademark and trade secrets matters. He was recognized as a Rising Star in IP by Managing Intellectual Property in 2018. He regularly acts on complex cross-border life sciences and telecommunications patent disputes, former employee trade secrets cases and cases involving the law governing Supplementary Protection Certificates. Mr. Baldwin’s non-contentious experience includes a billion-dollar IP portfolio purchase and other high-value acquisition and licensing deals. He also has advised world-renowned soccer clubs and automotive clients on issues including image rights, sponsorship and global celebrity advertising campaigns.