Carpmaels & Ransford

United Kingdom (England)

Reviews

Practice area

IP STARS Reviews

Overview

IP boutique Carpmaels & Ransford is among the elite firms in Europe for patent and SPC protection.  It has European patent attorneys for fields such as chemistry, life sciences, engineering, and tech. The firm is also recommended for trade mark protection and IP disputes.

Life sciences specialist Hugh Goodfellow is the managing partner. Other notable senior European patent attorneys in the firm include Edward Oates, Harvey Adams, Gary Small, Susan Kirsch, Daniel Wise, James Warner, Mark Chapman, Cameron Marshall, and John Brunner.

For patent disputes, the firm has a team of experienced litigators who strategically work alongside the patent attorneys. David Wilson and Ian Kirby are the key senior litigators in the firm’s disputes practice. Wilson heads the disputes practice. Clients in need of IP transactions advice can go to Jake Marshall, who leads the firm’s commercial IP practice.  

Roger Lush heads the trade mark department. Lush is supported by Jonathan Day, who is dual qualified as a solicitor and trade mark attorney.

Testimonial

"Great people to work with. Stable long-term interactions with the same people. Very capable."

“High-quality work product and excellent attorneys.”

“[They are] well versed in chemical and biological matters and European patent law,” said a pharmaceutical sector client who praised the firm’s patent attorneys for their “rapid response” and ability “pinpoint key issues in proceedings”.

“They offer a high-quality work product – very well organized, easy to work with, excellent attorneys and administrative support.”

"They provide advice on IP portfolio which supports both business success and portfolio success."

"We appreciate the straightforward fees and advice. Contract work is done promptly and on time with estimates of fees accurately scoped or discounted to fit pre-agreed budget, and the senior partner cares to meet with the client and get to know even our smaller startups with deals of around $1 million per annum."

"We value the very high quality of work, the deep engagement with the technology being borne in mind, and the suggestions for creative solutions that are in line with specific business goals (delaying cost when needed, accelerating prosecution on key filings)."

Earlier client testimonials

A client said the firm’s “highly skilled, proactive life sciences IP practitioners” are “a pleasure to work with”. The client explained: “[They are] entirely positive and constantly deliver high quality work and results. [They have] substantial bandwidth across team and a large pool of well-trained juniors.”

A patent litigation client said: “Carpmaels delivered an excellent result in a difficult case, working diligently in our best interests and closely with our in-house team. The firm is innovative in its approach.”

One client said: “They provide sophisticated, practical advice that considers the big picture, not only for the matter but for us as a client. The people are easy to work with and they provide advice that shows their understanding of the legal landscape as well as the politics of their corporate clients.”

Patent

Case studies show patent prosecution and office proceedings work in different technical fields, especially life sciences. Clients include BMS, Janssen, Novartis, Regeneron, Sanofi and Takeda.

Stephen Duffield, Christopher Hoggett, Anna Leathley, Natalia Wegner-Cribbs, Paul Kaufman and Daniel Goodman are up-and-coming patent attorneys in the firm. Other notable patent practitioners to watch are solicitors Jennifer Antcliff and Simon Llewellyn. In 2020, Hugh Goodfellow took over as managing partner following the retirement of Richard Jackson.

Patent litigator Camilla Balleny left the firm in 2025.

Agathe Michel-de Cazotte joined the firm in September 2022 as a partner. Michel-de Cazotte, who is a registered lawyer in France and Germany, was previously with Hogan Lovells Germany.

Gillian McGuire and Matthew Birch have left the firm.