Richard Clegg

Richard is our Managing Partner and is responsible for leading the Management Board to devise and deliver the firm's strategy. 

Richard has extensive experience in the biotechnology and pharmaceutical sectors.  He works closely with clients to establish a compelling commercial IP position.  Richard and his team help clients to generate active and valuable patent portfolios, defending key patents on a global basis, conducting freedom to operate analyses and taking effective action against competitors.

Areas of Expertise

• Oligonucleotide technology, including aptamers, antisense and RNA interference. Richard succeeded in obtaining grant of the very first aptamer (SELEX) technology patents in Europe, and has unrivalled experience in this field.
• Adoptive T cell therapies, including CAR-T and VSTs.
• Antibodies
• Oncolytic viruses

Clients

Richard’s clients include biotechnology companies in Europe, the US and Singapore. Richard works closely with many clients based in Singapore and is a regular visitor.

Background

Richard has an MA in biochemistry from the University of Cambridge and is a Chartered Biologist. He joined Mewburn Ellis LLP in 2003, qualifying as a Chartered Patent Attorney and European Patent Attorney in 2006, and was awarded a Higher Courts Litigation Certificate in 2015. He joined the partnership in 2006.

Opposition highlights

Over the past 20 years Richard has worked on a range of post-grant proceedings in relation to patents in life sciences and biotechnology, including over 50 opposition (and appeal) cases before the European patent office, as well as matters before the UK, US and Chinese patent offices and the English High Court.  The majority of his contentious work has been in defending important patents, with a high success rate. Some of his notable successes in defending important patents include T1126/19 (concerning a patent for an approved drug), T0801/06 (concerning a new medical use, the case is also cited in the EPO case law book) and T1915/17 (concerning a novel class of aptamers).

Recommendations

Richard has been listed as a key lawyer in the 2022 edition of The Legal 500.

"Richard Clegg is very astute and gives carefully considered advice that is pertinent to the issue at hand. He has a wide breadth of knowledge and experience on IP and related business and legal matters that can be relied upon." - The Legal 500, 2022

Focus on Inclusivity

Richard has personally signed up to the IP Inclusive Leader’s Pledge and is committed to making sure that diversity and inclusion remains a key focus for the firm. He will ensure that we build on the foundations we already have in place, to enable a firmwide approach to diversity and inclusion that benefits our people, clients and business.