Marks & Clerk, one of the world’s leading intellectual property (IP) law firms, has announced the promotion of Andrea Williams to Partner and the appointment of Senior Associate David Kemp to the Cambridge team, transferring from the London office. Both attorneys are part of the firm’s market-leading UK teams, with Andrea specialising in patents in the biotechnology field and David advising on all aspects of UK, EUTM and international trade mark law and practice. “I am delighted to announce the promotion of Andrea Williams to Partner, and welcome David Kemp to Cambridge. The attorneys in our Cambridge office have particular strength in working closely with clients to align their IP strategy to support their specific commercial needs. I am thrilled that Andrea’s great work in this regard has been recognised by her promotion into the partnership. I also welcome David, a TM specialist, on board to strengthen our overall IP offering to clients across East Anglia” said Kirsteen Gordon, Office Managing Partner of the Cambridge office of Marks & Clerk.

Andrea Williams

Andrea is a Chartered (UK) and European Patent Attorney who works for both local and overseas clients to draft and prosecute biotechnology patent applications worldwide. She has significant experience in drafting and prosecuting applications covering new plant traits, transgenic and genome edited organisms. She also has wide-ranging experience in drafting and prosecuting applications for large molecule technologies. In particular, her practice covers gene therapies, including modified vectors for delivery, as well as a range of antibodies and ADCs for therapy and as diagnostics for cancer, autoimmune and neurodegenerative disorders.

Andrea also has considerable experience in contentious matters as well as in providing FTO, due diligence and validity opinions in the biotechnology field. She further advises on Plant Breeders' Rights and has presented at the Plant Variety Protection Conference. Andrea’s first degree was from the University of Warwick where she gained a First class honours degree in Biology. She completed her PhD at the University of Cambridge where she investigated the role of protein clearance pathways in the pathogenesis of neurodegenerative disorders. Andrea also has an MSc in Intellectual Property Law from Queen Mary, University of London, and a first author paper in Nature Chemical Biology.

David Kemp

David is a Chartered (UK) Trade Mark Attorney with several years’ experience. His career has predominantly been in private practice but David has also spent some time working in-house for a leading Dutch oil and gas company. Prior to joining Marks & Clerk David worked in the brands department of another leading, London intellectual property firm. David advises on all aspects of UK, EUTM and international trade mark law and practice and his work ranges from brand clearance, advising on filing strategies and trade mark prosecution through to advising on contentious trade mark matters, including oppositions, invalidity and revocation actions, infringement and passing-off.

David has considerable experience of managing and advising on large international trade mark portfolios for major worldwide brands as well as brand portfolios for smaller businesses. David’s practice crosses a wide range of sectors but he has particular expertise in the medtech, fashion and retail, food and drink and financial services industries and is a member of Marks & Clerk’s Fashion and Retail and Food and Drink sector groups, David is also part of Marks & Clerk’s Anti-Counterfeiting team and regularly advises on matters involving anti-counterfeiting measures.