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 Robert Stephen
Partner

Robert Stephen

Patent Attorney, Co-Chair Life Sciences & Healthcare Sector

Languages
  • English
Social media

Robert is a European and Chartered UK Patent Attorney with nearly 30 years' experience, qualified to act before the European Patent Office (EPO) and the Unified Patent Court (UPC), as well as the UKIPO. 

He has been ranked as Band 1 in the Chambers Legal directory for 10 years, one of only 20 patent attorneys in the UK to be ranked in this way.  He is a Legal 500 leading partner, a recommended individual in Juve 2024, IAM 2024, and is head of the CMS patent attorney team, which has been Tier 1 ranked by Legal 500 for a number of years.

Robert has a busy practice focusing on EPO opposition work (having been involved in 70+ oppositions/ appeals), counselling and prosecution, all of which he is well known for.  He is also co-founder of the SPC Blog, which leads the debate on issues relating to patent term extension in Europe.

Robert has a first-class degree in biochemistry and a D.Phil. in molecular genetics from Oxford University, and completed the University of Oxford Artificial Intelligence Programme in 2025.  He has particular expertise in inventions in biochemistry, biotechnology, genetics and immunology, including protein- and peptide-based medicines, vaccines, antibodies, nucleic acid-based medicines, cell and gene therapies, transgenic animal platforms, CRISPR/gene editing technologies, microbiome technologies and diagnostics.

Awards & Recognitions
01
  • Quote
    'Robert Stephen and his team offer the best quality service in terms of their ability to make very difficult concepts relating to patents easy to understand. In terms of their technical ability and understanding of the engineering side of our products, I am continually surprised by the level of research and understanding that the team continues to develop.’
    Legal 500, 2025
  • Quote
    ‘Robert Stephen is an excellent patent attorney who has been in industry and thus understands the needs of life science clients. Good at finding creative solutions and collaborative.'
    Legal 500, 2025
  • Quote
    'Robert is a very capable and very driven attorney and market leader in SPCs. He has a business-minded approach and wears his abilities quite lightly.'
    Chambers, 2025
  • Quote
    'Robert Stephen brings refined expertise when it comes to supporting life sciences companies to develop robust patent portfolios.'
    IAM, 2025

Relevant experience

  • Kymab (now Sanofi) in its EPO prosecution, opposition and appeals against Regeneron in the field of mouse genetics and antibodies, reflected in, for example, decisions T2220/14 (cited in the EPO case law book at multiple places – “highly complex technical field”) and T1634/17.
  • Silence Therapeutics and E-therapeutics in the area of SiRNA.
  • The SNIPR group on its patent portfolio in the area of the microbiome modification using CRISPR technology.
  • Three major international pharmaceutical companies on EPO opposition and appeal proceedings on various commercial products.
  • A US pharma company on market exclusivity strategies in respect of UK and EP patent, SPC and regulatory law.
  • Leyden Laboratories on its mastering mucosal immunity IP strategy.

Publications

Lectures list

  • 2008-2024 - Chairman and presenter of the SPC Blog seminar and founder and co-author of the SPCblog and the SPCblog@linkedin. 
  • Presentation to CIPA Biotech conference on SPC law 2023

Education

  • 1996 – D. Phil , Institute of Molecular Medicine, Oxford University, Oxford
  • 1992 – Biochemistry, Oxford University, Oxford