Managing IP presented more than 250 prizes for legal excellence at an exhilarating EMEA Awards ceremony in London last night, April 11.
Over 600 guests joined us at the London Hilton on Park Lane to celebrate the biggest achievements in the intellectual property law sector over the past year, in what has long been a must-attend event in practitioners’ calendars.
Hogan Lovells was the top law firm performer of the evening, while Nokia, Novartis, Ocado and Vodafone took home the prestigious in-house awards.
Co-hosted by actor and impressionist Ronni Ancona and Managing IP’s very own (deputy editor) Max Walters, the ceremony charted the usual course of jurisdictional, impact case, in-house and special awards, with guests enjoying a magician and silhouette artist before formalities began.
As always, the Lifetime Achievement Awards drew much anticipation from what was a typically high-spirited crowd throughout the night. This year it was Kevin Mooney, Pierre Véron and Winfried Tilmann who shared the spoils of this highly sought-after prize.
Véron, now a consultant after spending more than 40 years as a patent litigator in the French courts, told Managing IP it was a great honour to receive such an award from the IP community.
“I have never regretted my decision to devote my professional life to patent litigation. It has given me the opportunity to meet fantastic people in my firm, as well as clients and opposing counsel.
“As my English is far from perfect, I was a little worried that a Lifetime Achievement Award would mean what the French word ‘achèvement’ means: ‘the end of my life’. But I consulted a good dictionary and was reassured that I still had a good few years of life left!” he added.
Hogan Lovells, which topped the leaderboard with 10 prizes, won awards in a range of categories including Patent Disputes (Law Firms) and Global Firm of the Year.
Miriam Gundt, partner in the IP, media and technology practice at the firm, said the strong performance reflected the expertise and “relentless work” of its cross-border team and the trust of its clients.
“Our team is known for handling complex issues across IP protection, transactions and litigation,” she said. “We will continue to invest in our clients and our people to stay at the forefront of key IP trends and keep our position as the trusted firm for high-impact IP cases.”
Elsewhere, Managing IP recognised several rising stars including Carina Höfer, a counsel at Hoyng Rokh Monegier in Germany, whose work at the Unified Patent Court (UPC) meant she stood out from the crowd.
“I am very proud and delighted that my dedicated work over the last years has been honoured with such an important and widely recognised award,” she told Managing IP.
“I am confident that the award will contribute to continuing my work with the highest quality and passion, embracing the challenges and changes ahead, particularly with respect to the UPC,” she added.
Though the bulk of the awards were for law firms or practitioners, a handful were available only for in-house counsel.
Like last year, Novartis had a successful evening, winning In-house Team of the Year for ‘soft’ IP. Nokia also triumphed for the second year in a row, taking home the equivalent prize for patents.
That meant two company awards remained – both for In-house Leader of the Year – and they were duly taken by Lucy Wojcik of Ocado Group (patents) and Natasza Shilling of Vodafone (soft IP).
Now in its 19th year, the Managing IP Awards programme is the most comprehensive and widely respected IP law firm awards event in the legal industry, and this year’s attendance was our highest yet.
We were supported by two important stakeholders on the night – IPify, which sponsored the event, and Ronald McDonald House Charities (RMHC), our charity partner.
Our charity partner
RMHC provides free ‘home away from home’ accommodation to families with children having treatment in hospital, and was used by a member of Managing IP’s staff last year under very challenging circumstances. You can learn more and donate to the charity here.
See the research methodology and shortlists here.
The full list of winners can be found here.
The reasons for the winners announced at the ceremony will be published on their pages on ipstars.com in September.
You can read more about the Managing IP Awards here.
