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Simon has a Chemistry (with Biochemistry) degree from Bristol University and qualified as a UK patent attorney in 1990. He became a European Patent Attorney in 1992 while with Kilburn & Strode and joined J A Kemp in 1994. He became a partner in J A Kemp’s biotechnology group in 2005 and moved to Schlich on the south coast in January 2022.

Simon handles patent and trade mark work in a wide variety of life science, chemical and pharma fields, including stem cells, human genes and genomics, drug delivery systems, contrast agents, GM crops, algae technology and CRISPR technology. He also handles mechanical work ranging from drones to electric vehicle charging. He works for a broad variety of clients ranging from individuals, SMEs and private clients up to UK universities and biotechnology start-ups. He also acts for EU and US genomics and academic institutions.

Simon chaired CIPA’s Life Sciences Committee for 20 years and relinquished that role earlier this year. He still Chairs the epi Biotech committee. He is a member of CIPA’s Council, Patents Committee and International Liaison Committee. He is a member of epi Council and the By-Laws committee and has been selected to be a member of SACEPO.

He is currently the President of CIPA for 2026.

He enjoys wine, gigs, playing the sax, running and cycling.

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Fred is a UK and European Patent Attorney and European Patent Litigator in the Simmons & Simmons IP Group. He specialises in chemistry and life sciences with an emphasis on contentious patent proceedings in oppositions before the European Patent Office and in litigation before the UPC and national courts. He completed his European Patent Litigation Certificate (EPLC) at the Academy of European Law (ERA) in association with Maastricht University and is now working in relation to UPC and EPO opposition proceedings concerning COVID-19 vaccines. He is a silver ranked individual for patent prosecution in the UK and recommended for the European Patent Office by IAM which reports “Sought after for his expertise in contentious proceedings at the UKIPO and EPO, Frederick Nicolle is a clear and confident advocate.”

Susan began working at GSK in 1998 as a patent trainee.  Since then she’s worked in various IP roles across the company supporting small and large molecules, vaccines and technologies.  Having spent the 2018 – 2022 leading the team that provides IP support to the Pharmaceutical portfolio, she moved teams at the beginning of 2023 to perform the same role for the Vaccines part of the business.

Dr Duncan Curley has over 25 years of experience of patent and trademark dispute resolution.   He is a pharmaceutical specialist and acts for a number of companies (large and small) on freedom to operate, patent clearance and litigation issues.

He has worked on many high profile cases over the years, including Krka and Consilient Health v AstraZeneca (damages inquiry), Aspire Pharma v Allergan (bimatoprost formulation patent), Dr Reddy’s v Warner-Lambert (SPC paediatric extension challenge) and two of the major UK cases on antitrust ‘Eurodefences’ to IP claims (Sandvik v Pfiffner, patents and Sportswear v Stonestyle, trade marks).

He is a frequent author of articles on IP issues and his publications include the book “Intellectual Property Licences and Technology Transfer” (on the European Technology Transfer Block Exemption) and “Extending Rewards for Innovative Drug Development”, a Report on Supplementary Protection Certificates published by the Intellectual Property Institute.

Edward is a UK and European Patent Attorney focussed on software, natural language processing and AI. Before founding Added Matter, Edward spent almost a decade in private practice, including at Marks & Clerk.

Outside Added Matter, Edward codes in his spare time, and is an all-round AI evangelist.

Edward has a degree in physics.

Richard Davis KC has over 20 years’ experience litigating before the English Patents Court as well as oppositions and appeals before the EPO and is equally familiar with both jurisdictions. In March 2025 he became the first UK barrister to appear before the Unified Patent Court.

Richard’s practice encompasses a diverse range of technologies. He has particular expertise in the electronics / telecommunications sector having advised many of the major players in the field such as LG Electronics, Samsung, Nokia, Motorola and Symbian. Although by training an electrical engineer, he is active in the pharmaceutical sector including SPCs. He acted for the Secretary of State for Health in the ground breaking second medical indication litigation concerning pregabalin.

Before commencing practice at the Bar, Richard qualified as a European Patent Attorney and this dual qualification has resulted in him appearing frequently before the European Patent Office often in cases of concurrent UK litigation. He has audience rights before the Unified Patents Court.

Richard is equally at home with the other intellectual property rights and has carved a niche in designs and ‘difficult’ copyright cases including Temple Island v New English Teas (the red bus case). He is one of the few counsel to have appeared before the CJEU on a designs matter and one of the very few to have appeared before the UK Registered Designs Appeal Tribunal (as it then was). He has been involved in a number of cases which have pushed the boundaries of what it protectable under the law of copyright and database rights.

Richard was one of the inaugural tutors at Nottingham Law School on its LLM in Advanced IP litigation and has been a visiting lecturer of CEIPI on the European patent litigation diploma. He is currently one of the two General Editors of the CIPA Guide to the Patents Acts (the Black Book).

In 2019 Richard was appointed as a criminal Recorder giving him a very different and judicial insight into the conduct of proceedings. He has presided over jury trials involving including inflicting grievous bodily harm, child cruelty, aggravated arson and burglary.

Richard spends much of his spare time flying his ‘home-build’ aeroplane which first took to the skies in 2020.

Andrea is a Chartered Patent Attorney and a former CIPA President. In the past she has served on the Institute’s governing Council and several of its committees.

Before her retirement she was a partner in a small regional IP practice, Greaves Brewster LLP, of which she had been a co-founder.

Andrea established IP Inclusive in 2015 to promote equality, diversity, inclusion (EDI) and wellbeing throughout the UK’s IP professions. Alongside many enthusiastic volunteers, she has developed the initiative into a well-connected and influential player in the IP sector. She became its first Lead Executive Officer in 2019.

Julyan Elbro is Divisional Director in charge of Patent Examination in the Intellectual Property Office, with overall responsibility for the patents service.  In this role he wears a variety of hats, including responsibility for the part of the current project to transform the Office’s digital capability relating to patent applications and granting.  With an academic background in mathematics and computer science, he has worked at the Intellectual Property Office since 1998, originally as a Patent Examiner, but also spending some time in the Office’s Policy Directorate covering a range of portfolios including biotechnology, pharmaceuticals, and the World Trade Organisation TRIPs Agreement.  He returned to patent examining in 2006 as head of the group dealing with computing inventions, before taking broader responsibility across patent examination in 2009. His current role includes responsibility for the whole application to grant process and the associated digital services in the patents area.  He is currently active in a number of international fora, notably the EPO’s Committee on Patent Law and he chairs an international working group on Substantive Patent Law Harmonisation.

Dr Lawrence Cullen established his own consultancy, Lawrence Cullen@ConsultingIP, in 2025 to pursue his interests in biotechnology and in the role and relevance of SPCs. He is also a visiting scholar at the School of Law, University of Sheffield where he is collaborating on some research projects in IP and biotechnology. Dr Cullen was a Deputy Director at the Intellectual Property Office (IPO) in the UK from 2007 to 2024 where he had responsibility for operational delivery of SPCs and for patents in the pharma, organic chemistry and biotech fields. He joined the IPO in 1997 as a patent examiner in chemistry and worked in a variety of operational, technical and policy roles in patents and trademarks before taking on the Deputy Director role. Dr Cullen has a wide experience as a hearing officer dealing with questions of validity and patentability, having been involved in over 50 patent and over 25 SPC cases before the IPO and subsequent appeals before the UK courts and, prior to 2021, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU). He has also worked as a hearing officer adjudicating trademark disputes. Dr Cullen was educated in chemistry in Ireland and the UK and worked as a research scientist at various universities in Europe and USA before joining the IPO.

Dr Lawrence Cullen established his own consultancy, Lawrence Cullen@ConsultingIP, in 2025 to pursue his interests in biotechnology and in the role and relevance of SPCs. He is also a visiting scholar at the School of Law, University of Sheffield where he is collaborating on some research projects in IP and biotechnology. Dr Cullen was a Deputy Director at the Intellectual Property Office (IPO) in the UK from 2007 to 2024 where he had responsibility for operational delivery of SPCs and for patents in the pharma, organic chemistry and biotech fields. He joined the IPO in 1997 as a patent examiner in chemistry and worked in a variety of operational, technical and policy roles in patents and trademarks before taking on the Deputy Director role. Dr Cullen has a wide experience as a hearing officer dealing with questions of validity and patentability, having been involved in over 50 patent and over 25 SPC cases before the IPO and subsequent appeals before the UK courts and, prior to 2021, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU). He has also worked as a hearing officer adjudicating trademark disputes. Dr Cullen was educated in chemistry in Ireland and the UK and worked as a research scientist at various universities in Europe and USA before joining the IPO.

Julyan Elbro is Divisional Director in charge of Patent Examination in the Intellectual Property Office, with overall responsibility for the patents service.  In this role he wears a variety of hats, including responsibility for the part of the current project to transform the Office’s digital capability relating to patent applications and granting.  With an academic background in mathematics and computer science, he has worked at the Intellectual Property Office since 1998, originally as a Patent Examiner, but also spending some time in the Office’s Policy Directorate covering a range of portfolios including biotechnology, pharmaceuticals, and the World Trade Organisation TRIPs Agreement.  He returned to patent examining in 2006 as head of the group dealing with computing inventions, before taking broader responsibility across patent examination in 2009. His current role includes responsibility for the whole application to grant process and the associated digital services in the patents area.  He is currently active in a number of international fora, notably the EPO’s Committee on Patent Law and he chairs an international working group on Substantive Patent Law Harmonisation.