Our People
The Principals
Listed below are our attorneys and chairman. They are supported by the board and an experienced staff of intellectual property managers, searching, database and IT systems experts plus our dedicated operational team.
David Roberts
(Non-Executive Chairman) CPA, EPA
David Roberts was Senior Vice President of Intellectual Property at GlaxoSmithKline plc, with offices in London and Philadelphia, until June 2007 and Global Head of Intellectual Property at GlaxoSmithKline plc and its legacy companies, SmithKline Beecham plc and Beecham Pharmaceuticals Ltd, for 27 years. During this time David had executive responsibility for 250 staff including some 120 patent and trade mark attorneys based in Europe, USA and Japan. David has a BSc (Hons) degree in chemistry from the University of Liverpool and an LLB (Hons) from the University of London and is a UK Chartered Patent Attorney and a European Patent Attorney.
In addition to David's position on the Board of Stratagem IPM Limited, he is a non-executive Director on the Steering Board of the UK Intellectual Property Office. During his career, David has sat on many professional committees, including most recently, Chair of the IP Policy Committee of the European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries (EFPIA) and the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry (ABPI), President of Interpat (the international organisation of the heads of Intellectual Property departments of the top 30 pharmaceutical companies worldwide) and a Board member of EFPIA and the Intellectual Property Institute.
Nicola Baker-Munton
(Chief Executive Officer) CPA, EPA
Nicola Baker-Munton is the founder and Chief Executive Officer of Stratagem IPM. She is a Chartered UK Patent Attorney and European Patent Attorney with a joint honours degree in biology and biochemistry. During her nine years as an industrial practitioner at the Wellcome Foundation Limited, and four years in the private sector, Nicola recognised the need for much greater assistance with management of intellectual property earlier in the development of technologies, and advice and assistance with commercialisation throughout the technology/product life-cycle. Nicola founded Stratagem IPM in 1999. With Steady growth it has become the leading specialist company providing active strategic management of intellectual property portfolios from inception through development to market, and from academia through startup to stock market listing.
Abigail Woolhouse
(Head of Trade Marks) RTMA, ETMA
Abigail joined Stratagem in 2005 and is a Registered Trade Mark Attorney and European Trade Mark Attorney. She began her career in private practice, moving to ICI in 1999 taking on responsibility for various trade mark portfolios within the ICI Group, and being involved in several acquisitions & disposals, as well as providing advice on registered designs & copyright. Abigail has a particular interest in domain names and intellectual property issues concerned with the internet. She has also provided training to IPAG and students of ITMA, together with in-house training to marketing and legal departments.
Victoria Hufton MPhys(Oxon)
(Managing Attorney) CPA EPA
Victoria Hufton is a European Patent Attorney and a Chartered Patent Attorney. Victoria obtained a Masters degree in Physics from Oxford University and joined the patent profession in 2000 receiving her training within a London-based private practice. She has subsequently worked as Intellectual Property manager for Nissan Motor Manufacturing (UK) Ltd with overall responsibility for a portfolio covering all aspects of the R&D output of the European activities before joining Stratagem in April 2008.
Victoria has experience of all aspects of the filing and prosecution of UK, European and International patent applications together with portfolio management experience gained during her time at Nissan.
Victoria has previously worked in a wide variety of technical areas including printing sciences; audio equipment; oil and gas products; computer systems; equipment for the cement industry; high throughput screening and genomics automation; and automotive safety systems.
Colin Barnes BSc (Hons.), PhD
(Patent Attorney) EPA
Colin Barnes is a European Patent Attorney. He gained his degree in Chemistry and Food Science from the University of Reading, followed by a PhD in oligonucleotide chemistry from the Institute of Cancer Research in London. Colin then worked as a post doctoral research associate for the University of Cambridge.
Colin was the first employee of DNA sequencing company Solexa where he worked from 1998-2010, initially as a research scientist, then as a chemistry project leader managing a team of research staff, and from 2006 onwards as Intellectual Property Manager. At Solexa, Colin was the inventor of more than 12 granted and 20 pending patents, and helped to build and manage the company patent portfolio. In 2007 Solexa was purchased by US company Illumina, and Colin became IP manager for the DNA sequencing business of Illumina.
Colin passed the European Qualifying Exam in 2009 and joined Stratagem in 2010.
At Solexa/Illumina, Colin managed a broad and varied intellectual property portfolio, and is experienced in the drafting, filing and prosecution of European and International patent applications, as well as advising on infringement and validity issues. At Stratagem he specialises in chemistry and biotechnology for a diverse range of clients.
Joeeta Murphy BSc (Hons), MPhil
(Patent Attorney) EPA
Joeeta is a European Patent Attorney specialising in the Life Sciences sector. Joeeta joined Stratagem in 2010 and brings expertise in managing and developing IP portfolios, drafting and prosecution, performing due diligence and providing strategic advice. She worked in private practice from 1994 covering a wide range of IP matters for a range of clients and subsequently in industry from 2002 as an in-house IP Manager for a bio-pharmaceutical SME focused on developing therapeutics for neurodegenerative diseases and inflammatory conditions. Joeeta was also involved in the more commercial aspects including handling contracts, in-licensing and out-licensing of technology as well as in a company acquisition process.
Joeeta holds a BSc in Biological Sciences from Manchester Metropolitan University and an MPhil in Pharmaceutical Sciences, specifically on antibiotic biosynthesis, from Nottingham University. She further holds an MSc in Management of IP and the QMW Certificate in IP Law from the University of London.
Prior to joining the patents and trade marks profession, Joeeta worked as a scientist and gained experience in Alzheimer's disease research at Edinburgh University and Diabetes research at Oxford University.
Sarah Grant MBiochem
(Managing Attorney) CPA EPA
Sarah Grant is a Chartered Patent Attorney and European Patent Attorney. Before joining Stratagem IPM, Sarah worked as an Intellectual Property Manager for NHS Innovations London. She was responsible for evaluating the commercial potential of healthcare ideas from clinicians with a view to licensing the technology or forming spin-out companies. Such evaluation included full IP reviews and strategic advice as well ascertaining whether any development was required and seeking the required funding, freedom to operate analysis and drafting contracts. Sarah has particular experience in the diagnostic and therapeutic fields.
Following her graduation from the University of Oxford with a Masters Degree in Biochemistry in 1998, she trained at London-based firm of patent attorneys where she qualified. Her experience from this period includes all aspects of filing and prosecuting patent applications; managing portfolios for a varied client base.
Catherine Lovell BSc (Hons)
(Patent Attorney) CPA EPA
Catherine has an Honours Degree in Biology from Portsmouth University, and qualified as a Chartered Patent Attorney in 2005 and as a European Patent Attorney in 2006. Before training as a patent attorney Catherine gained valuable commercial experience in the field of intellectual property licensing and technology transfer.
She started her career working as a Patent Specialist at Unipath Diagnostics, where she was closely involved with a number of high profile court cases relating to Unipath's “one-step†diagnostic platform. She then moved to BTG where she gained valuable experience of all aspects of the technology transfer process, working first for the Medical Device and Diagnostics team before training as a patent attorney with responsibility for Life Science technologies in the field of Oncology. More recently Catherine spent 5 years working as a Biotech Patent Attorney at AstraZeneca where she gained extensive experience of intellectual property due diligence and antibody patenting.
Her technology base covers a broad spectrum of life science and medical device technologies, such as antibody and large molecule therapeutics (biologics), vaccines, drug delivery technologies, antibody formulations, diagnostic devices, molecular diagnostics and medical devices.
Helen Higgins BSc (Hons) MSc
(Patent Attorney) EPA
Helen is a European Patent Attorney with an honours degree in Applied Chemistry from the University of Huddersfield. Helen has a number of years experience in industry having initially worked as a research scientist for Cambridge Antibody Technology Ltd (now Medimmune) before later moving into the patent profession within the company. Helen's technical background covers the fields of pharmaceutical, chemical and biotechnology. After gaining a Masters degree in the Management of Intellectual Property from Queen Mary, University of London, Helen joined the team at Stratagem as an IP Manager in 2004. Most recently, Helen was the IP Manager at Takeda Cambridge Ltd (a subsidiary of Takeda Pharmaceutical Company, Japan) and was responsible for the management of a portfolio consisting of biological, research tool and chemical inventions, in addition to handling all other IP related aspects within the company, including contracts and agreements. Helen also gained valuable due diligence experience following the acquisition of Paradigm Therapeutics Ltd by Takeda Pharmaceutical Company in 2007 before re-joining Stratagem in 2010. Helen passed the European Qualifying Examinations in July 2012.
David M J Taylor BSc PhD.,
(Patent Attorney) EPA, CPA
David joined Stratagem in 2013 after six years in private practice, where he acted for a wide variety of clients including multinational corporations, universities and SMEs in a wide variety of technical fields. He has a wealth of experience of patent drafting and prosecution in multiple jurisdictions and of different patenting strategies.
David previously worked for three years as a research scientist at universities in mainland Europe, North America and the UK. His research covered nanotechnology, condensed-matter physics and super conductivity, including for example an investigation of materials to be used in the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor.
David has a BSc in natural sciences, specialising in physics, mathematics and French, and a PhD in physics, both from Durham University. During his PhD, he spent several months working at a major manufacturer of research instrumentation and medical imaging systems.
Explanation of qualifications: European Patent Attorney = Regulated by EPI www.patentepi.com UK Chartered Patent Attorney and UK Registered Trade Mark Attorney = Regulated by IPREG www.ipreg.org.uk
Trainees and Intellectual Property Managers
Simon Yates DPhil
As a Senior Intellectual Property Manager, Simon has wide experience of molecular biology and human genetics. His previous business development experience adds skills in competitor intelligence, market research and analysis of sales and other relevant data. Simon is an intellectual property transfer recordal specialist.
Dave Saunders C Chem MRSC
In addition to his duties as IP Administration Manager, Dave is Head of Search Services and spearheads the Client Cost Forecast Service for the company. He has a background in both synthetic organic chemistry and information services management in the pharmaceutical and agrochemical industries. Dave has extensive experience in search and analysis, competitor analysis, intellectual property and global formalities management.
Hannah Kendall BSc Hons
As IP Manager, Hannah has experience of maintaining patent and agreement portfolios within the pharmaceutical industry. She has a background in synthetic organic chemistry, and has worked for a number of years within IP departments of pharmaceutical research sites, liaising closely with researchers to ensure their IP needs were met. Hannah also has experience of patent and agreement database management .