Diversity Statistics 2021. Every few years, we are required by our regulator (the SRA) to collect and publish certain diversity statistics for our firm. Data published in previous years can also be found on this website.

Diversity Statistics 2019. We are required by our regulator (the SRA) to publish certain diversity statistics for our firm. Data published in two previous years can also be found on this website.

The start of April 2018 marked the official launch of UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), an amalgamation of the seven research councils, Innovate UK, and Research England. With this, UK universities’ ability to turn research into innovation is once again under the spotlight. Anderson Law commissioned research into the relationship between the sources of funding for academic research, and successful commercialisation of the research.

Diversity Statistics 2017. Periodically, we are required by our regulator, the Solicitors’ Regulation Authority, to collect and publish diversity data on our staff. There is an exception to the obligation to publish if it might identify individuals, and as a small firm we have taken the decision to omit certain details.

2016 Chambers UK Directory 2016 was published last week. As in recent years, Anderson Law LLP is recommended for both intellectual property and life sciences work. Chambers reports some very kind comments from clients and peers. Chambers recommends firms for IP on a regional basis. We feature in the Thames Valley section. In the firm rankings, Anderson Law LLP is ranked in the top band (band 1). Three of our lawyers feature in the individual rankings, the largest number from any of the recommended firms. Mark is ranked in band 1, Stephen in band 2, and Paul in band 3.

Mark is appointed as chairman of the Intellectual Property Law Committee of the Law Society of England and Wales, for a 3-year term starting in September 2015 and chairman of BioLaw Europe FmbA, an association of European lawyers who specialise in advising the life-science sector and chairs its annual meeting in Barcelona.

We win a public tender to provide template agreements and commentary for Enterprise Ireland, an agency of the Irish Government.

Our annual, 5-day course, Intellectual Property Transactions: Law and Practice, has its first outing at University College London’s Faculty of Laws. It wins a Law Society Excellence Award (Highly Commended) in 2013, and a UCL Provost’s Teaching Award in 2014.

We assist our client to manage (and successfully dispose of) an investigation by the European Commission’s criminal investigation unit, OLAF, into allegations of fraud in an EU-funded Framework research project.

We convert the firm to an LLP. Our blog, IP Draughts, is born. It wins an American Bar Association Blawg100 award in 2012, and today contains over 400 articles on IP and contract topics.

We are first instructed by Moorfields Eye Hospital NHS Foundation Trust to advise its not-for-profit spin-out Open Eyes Foundation, on constitutional, IP and contractual issues relating to the establishment of a software development organisation in the medical field.

We are instructed by the European Patent Office to write 5 hours of peer-reviewed training materials on intellectual property licensing. We deliver this training on several occasions, including as a series of webinars in 2012.

We are instructed by City University to act for it in a series of transactions (over several years) relating to its spin-out company Heliex Power Limited, including investment agreements with BP and Greencoat Capital.

We are instructed to act for Oxford-based research company, BioAnaLab Limited, on the sale of its business to Millipore Corporation.

Mark is invited by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to an expenses-paid meeting in Washington, DC, for US and overseas lawyers who advise the research community.

We are first instructed by computer games developer, Realistic Games Limited, which continues to be a valued client in 2016. Our work for Realistic includes software licensing, shareholder agreements, share options, and regulatory licence applications to the UK and Gibraltar gambling authorities.

Working through Unico (later PraxisUnico), we successfully bid to the UK Department of Trade and Industry to write a set of guides to commercialisation agreements, for use by university managers.

In this year we are first instructed by biotech company Piramed Limited, which becomes a significant client for several years on IP, contracts, share option, company secretarial and other matters, prior to its sale to Roche in 2008 for about $170M.

We are also first instructed by Schlumberger Messaging UK Limited which, after several name changes and acquisitions (including as Airwide, Mavenir and now Mitel) continues to be a valued client in 2016, for software supply agreements and other commercial transactions work.

Mark helps Xenova Group plc to negotiate the first of a series of major licensing deals for its lead chemical compounds. This first deal, with Millennium Pharmaceuticals (later acquired by Takeda), is announced as having an upfront payment of $11.5M plus milestone and royalty payments.

We move the firm to Oxfordshire. After staying in temporary accommodation, the firm moves into purpose-built offices in 2003.

We make an innovative, long-term arrangement with our client Imperial Innovations Limited under which we recruit a lawyer (Simon Keevey) who is seconded to Innovations 3 or 4 days per week. This arrangement continues for over 5 years.

The first of our books, Technology: the Law of Exploitation and Transfer, is published by Butterworths. Now known as Technology Transfer (3rd edn, Bloomsbury). In more recent years, we have written over a dozen books and volumes of a legal encyclopedia.

Anderson & Company opens for business. Within 6 months, Mark’s 5 top clients from his previous firm are instructing Anderson & Company regularly. One of those clients, University College London, continues to be a client 21 years later.