Lovells boosts NY IP with Johnson & Johnson partner hire
Lovells is adding a third partner to its New York intellectual property (IP) group with the hire of a senior in-house patent lawyer from Johnson & Johnson. Kevin Townsend joins the law firm as a partner this month as part of Lovells' plans to substantially boost its IP practice in the US. Townsend has been at healthcare and pharmaceutical giant Johnson & Johnson - a longstanding client of Lovells - for eight years, managing all patent issues for major products in development.
December 03, 2008 at 11:18 PM
2 minute read
City law firm adds third partner to its New York intellectual property group with pharmaceutical giant hire
Lovells is adding a third partner to its New York intellectual property (IP) group with the hire of a senior in-house patent lawyer from Johnson & Johnson.
Kevin Townsend joins the law firm as a partner this month as part of Lovells' plans to substantially boost its IP practice in the US. 
Townsend has been at healthcare and pharmaceutical giant Johnson & Johnson – a longstanding client of Lovells – for eight years, managing all patent issues for major products in development.
Before joining Johnson & Johnson he spent time with Eli Lilly and in private practice, where he worked with firms including Sterne Kessler Goldstein & Fox and Foley & Lardner – advising on matters including life sciences patents and licensing agreements.
Townsend's move is the latest part of Lovells' ambition to grow a sizeable IP practice in the US.
The firm only launched the practice in North America last summer with the July hire of Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe IP partner Veronica Mullally, growing the group further with the hire of a New York partner from Morgan Lewis & Bockius, David Leichtman, in October.
Andreas von Falck (pictured), who heads the commerce and real estate group which houses Lovells' IP practice, said: "While [Townsend] has been our client we have developed a better system for advising life sciences clients on IP matters. We can benefit further from this and he also has a good range of contacts."
He added: "We are currently the most credible IP firm with a spread in Asia, the US and Europe. In the US, the market could easily sustain 100 lawyers and five to 15 partners in the short-to-medium term."
Lovells merged its IP practice with its technology, media and telecommunications group in May 2007. The practice has worked with clients including BlackBerry, FremantleMedia and Anheuser-Busch.
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