Andrew Wells > Herbert Smith Freehills LLP > London, England > Lawyer Profile

Andrew Wells

+44 20 7466 2929 andrew.wells@hsf.com View profile

Work Department

Intellectual Property

Career

Andrew is an IP lawyer who helps clients with various issues relating to innovation in a range of different technologies. He is enthusiastic about the on-going potential of innovation to help society to overcome pressing challenges and to drive the 21st century economy forward.  Andrew sees intellectual property rights as playing a key role in fostering the development of new technologies. He has a keen interest in the technical as well as legal details of his matters, stemming from his scientific background and, ultimately, his enjoyment of understanding ‘how things work’.

Andrew has an exceptionally strong track record in the life sciences sector, having advised clients on complex, strategically important patent litigation in this field for almost a decade. In this context he has worked for major global pharmaceutical companies including Gilead and F. Hoffmann-La Roche on significant cases in the English High Court and Court of Appeal involving some of their most valuable products. He has also advised these and other life sciences clients on European and global patent litigation strategy (including in relation to the Unified Patent Court (UPC)) and has worked with law firms from around the world, attending proceedings in Norway, Canada and Australia and at the European Patent Office.

Andrew also works with clients across various other sectors on a range of other intellectual property issues, including in relation to freedom to operate analysis, the negotiation of collaboration / commercialisation / license agreements, patent strategy and corporate mergers and acquisitions. In recent years Andrew has developed a particular interest in the energy sector and the role that IP has to play in powering the energy transition by supporting the on-going development of the new, low carbon technologies that the world needs.

Education

Prior to his career in law, Andrew completed a four year degree in Natural Sciences graduating with a first class BA/MSci from the University of Cambridge.  His final year included a research project in synthetic organic chemistry with the Paterson group.  Andrew completed the University of Oxford Postgraduate Diploma in Intellectual Property Law and Practice, being awarded a Distinction in July 2013.

Personal

Andrew is also a mental health advocate within the legal profession.  After suffering a prolonged and, at times, severe bout of anxiety and depression in the mid-2010s he went on to share his experiences with a range of organisations through his talk ‘Mind Your Head! What I Wish I’d Known About Anxiety & Depression’.  Andrew has also participated in panel discussions at Cambridge, Oxford and Bristol Universities and the Legal Week Commercial Litigation & Arbitration Forum on the subject of mental health and the legal profession.  He has also been interviewed on the BBC 5 Live in relation to mental health at work and walked 100 kilometres along the Thames Path over two days raising awareness (and over £4,800) for Mind, the mental health charity.  He Chairs HSF’s Mental Health Champion Steering Committee for the West Region (UK, US & EMEA) and was recently named a mental health Emerging Leader by InsideOut.