William Fry LLP has a highly developed healthcare and life sciences practice that continues to earn accolades for product liability, patent litigation, M&A transactions and regulatory matters in the life sciences space. In healthcare, it remains active in clinical, professional and product liability cases, including clinical negligence claims linked to the CervicalCheck screening programme. Laura Scott leads the life sciences team and has an outstanding record in patent disputes. Margaret Muldowney and Fiona Barry are noted for clinical negligence cases, including claims arising from the CervicalCheck programme. Mary Cooney is a key figure for product liability cases and Charleen O’Keeffe and Colette Brady are also rated for patent disputes.

Legal 500 Editorial commentary

Testimonials

Collated independently by Legal 500 research team.

  • ‘Laura Scott and Leo Moore are brilliant. Both understand the intricacies, challenges and opportunities in the life sciences. Together their litigation and transactional skills mean they can cover all angles of IP in the life sciences sector.’

  • 'Global network. Very experienced and knowledgeable. Great with technical detail, hardworking and very professional.'

  • ‘Charleen O'Keeffe (Partner) and Florence Meagher (Senior Associate), a strong team. Very experienced and knowledgeable. They see the big picture and overall strategy, but also show great attention to each detail. Solution driven, great with technical detail, hardworking and very professional.’

Key clients

  • Clinical Pathology Laboratories
  • Medical Protection Society/Orthopaedic Surgeons
  • Eli Lilly
  • AstraZenenca AB
  • Boehringer Ingelheim
  • WaterWipes UC
  • Amgen Inc
  • Edwards Lifesciences
  • RCSI
  • Uniphar Plc

Work highlights

  • Advised Clinical Pathology Laboratories Inc, which provided services to the Irish cervical screening programme, on defending over 100 claims by women who claim a delay in diagnosis of cervical cancer as a result of allegedly misinterpreted smear slides reported as part of that programme.
  • Acted for Eli Lilly in Commercial Court proceedings for the revocation of a patent held by Novartis Pharma AG (Novartis) and in related Commercial Court infringement proceedings issued by Novartis against Eli Lilly.
  • Advised Amgen on its proposed acquisition of Horizon Therapeutics.

Lawyers

Leading partners
The strongest partners in their field, leading on market-leading deals and endorsed by peers and clients alike.
Next Generation Partners
Junior partners with significant recognition from clients and peers in the market and key roles on multiple matters.

Practice head

The lawyer(s) leading their teams.

Margaret Muldowney, Laura Scott

Other key lawyers

Fiona Barry, Charleen O’Keeffe, Colette Brady, Mary Cooney, Florence Meagher, Leo Moore