Senior Associate
Francis’s expertise is concentrated on patent matters and he provides counsel on all aspects of exclusivity in the life science (especially pharmaceutical and small molecule) areas.
Before joining the Firm, Francis spent over 25 years in-house providing strategic, business-focused, patent counselling to life sciences industry companies, guiding them through every stage of the patent life cycle. His experience includes drafting and prosecuting patent applications worldwide (particularly US, Europe, Japan and China) and creating patent portfolios. He works to obtain enforceable claims and develops and executes both offensive and defensive patent strategies. He also conducts strategic reviews of patent portfolios to identify strengths and weaknesses, and also to find opportunities to minimize threats and maximize revenue.
As part of this strategic counselling, Francis has regularly advised on patentability, validity and freedom to operate issues, provided pre-litigation assessments and opinions regarding patentability, conducted IP due diligence (both buy- and sell-side) for strategic transactions, and advised on IP-related contact matters.
