Christopher Stothers

He is an experienced patent litigator and was a partner at Arnold & Porter from 2012 to 2018 and has been a partner at Freshfields since 2018. Since qualifying as a solicitor in England & Wales in 2003 (obtaining higher rights of audience in 2008 and qualifying as an Irish solicitor in 2016), he has managed strategic, cross-border patent disputes across Europe and beyond, including arguing oppositions and appeals before the European Patent Office as a legal practitioner (since 2012, no. 09006240) and acting in disputes before the Unified Patent Court as a UPC Representative (since 2023), having assisted parties before courts in several UPC Contracting States and multiple in-person hearings at first instance and appeal level. 
His practice focuses particularly on pharmaceuticals, biotechnology, medical devices, and telecommunications, and he is well known for his work at the intersection of intellectual property, competition, and regulatory law, with additional experience in antitrust, pharmaceutical regulatory litigation, arbitration, and mediation. His solicitor training included seats in the IP and competition groups at Linklaters in London, a Blue Book stage at the European Commission (IP policy team) in Brussels, and a secondment to the Linklaters Bratislava office (now Kinstellar); upon qualification he worked at Willoughby & Partners, then Milbank for six years, before joining Arnold & Porter as counsel in 2010 and becoming partner in 2012. 
He is also an Honorary Professor of Practice in Intellectual Property and Competition Law at University College London, where he has taught since 2007, previously taught IP at Cambridge and contract law at Oxford, and has lectured for several years on the European Patent Litigation Certificate course in Milan and at ERA in Trier.