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Laura Orlando

Italy Managing Partner, Joint Global Head of Intellectual Property, EMEA Co-Head of Life Sciences
Milan

Laura heads our Milan office, is a joint global head of the intellectual property (IP) practice and co-heads the European Life Sciences sector team. 

Specialising in contentious and non-contentious intellectual property, Laura has a focus on patent and regulatory law in the life sciences sector. She has acted in some of the highest profile multi-jurisdictional patent cases, including in the context of the SPC Regulation, and has assisted major pharmaceutical companies in connection with patent expiry of top selling drugs. She also advises on a range of regulatory issues including product life cycle management, routes for obtaining marketing authorisations, data exclusivity provisions, supplementary protection certificates, orphan designations, good manufacturing practice compliance certificates, pricing and reimbursement.

In addition to life sciences, Laura has experience in a broad cross-section of industries, notably food, chemicals, consumer products, TMT and electronics, fashion and industrial design.

She is the Executive Secretary of the Life Sciences Committee at the American Chamber of Commerce in Italy.

Accolades

  • Ranked amongst Italy's 50 Lawyers of the Year 2018 – 2023 by Legalcommunity
  • “Lawyer of the Year” at the Legalcommunity IP & TMT Awards 2023
  • Recognised as one of Italy's 50 most inspiring female professionals at the Inspiralaw Awards (2022, 2023) by Legalcommunity
  • Winner of the International Client Choice Award for Life Sciences (2022-2023) and Intellectual Property: Patents (2018, 2021)
  • "Lawyer of the Year - Thought Leadership" and "Lawyer of the Year - Life Sciences" in 2022, "Life Sciences Lawyer of the Year" 2018 and 2020, "IP Lawyer of the Year“ 2019 at the Legalcommunity IP Awards
  • "Life Sciences Lawyer of the Year (Pharmaceuticals)" 2021, "Life Sciences Lawyer of the Year (Biomedical)" 2018 and 2020, "Food Lawyer of the Year" 2019 at the TopLegal Industry Awards
  • Recognised as one of the 300 World's Leading IP Strategists by IAM Strategy 300 (2019 - 2023)
  • Highly Ranked in Chambers & Partners for Life Sciences and Intellectual Property in Italy
  • Recognised as "Leading Individual" by Legal500 EMEA for Healthcare and Life Sciences and as "Hall of Fame" in Intellectual Property
  • Recommended as a leading IP lawyer by international and Italian directories including MIP's Expert Guide to the World's Leading Patent Law Practitioners, IAM Patent 1000, WTR 1000, Who's Who Legal

"Laura is brilliant and has a clever way of looking at things – it’s never solely legal advice; she offers a wise, interdisciplinary approach." Co-leading the life sciences sector in EMEA, Laura Orlando is "an absolute superstar." (Legal 500 EMEA, 2023)

"Laura Orlando is very practical, decisive and extremely experienced, with sound judgement in terms of strategy. She has a brilliantly clever way of looking at issues; she sees a matter from various angles and adapts advice to the client’s needs – it is never solely legal advice, and she offers a wise and interdisciplinary approach. Laura is an inspiration to those around her." (WTR 1000, 2023)

Business-like, pragmatic, yet sophisticated, the way in which she masters the case and deals with everyone involved is admirable, be it the judge or the other side’s counsel.” “Creative strategies, key advice and terrific support – Laura is one of the best lawyers you could have by your side.” (IAM Patent 1000, 2023)

"Laura is a top-level professional in life sciences. She is pragmatic and flexible." "It is truly inspiring to work with Laura for the proactivity and precision she demonstrates in supporting the client." "Laura Orlando is a formidable counsel." (Chambers Europe, 2023)

Background

Laura graduated with honours from the University of Pavia and the Rijksuniversiteit Groningen and holds a doctorate in Contentious Law from the University of Bologna.

She is admitted to the Italian Supreme Court (Corte di Cassazione).

Experience & expertise

Selected matters

  • assisting Gilead on the Europe-wide dispute concerning the SPC for the HIV drug Truvada including the implementation of the CJEU decision on combination SPC
  • assisting Eli Lilly on a number of patent and regulatory matters, including most recently advising on a major patent dispute concerning a leading anti-psoriasis product.
  • assisting leading Italian vaccine-developer AchilleS Vaccines on IP and regulatory aspects relating to a new platform for streamlining the research and development of new vaccines and a research project for the development of human monoclonal antibodies against COVID-19
  • assisting the US Government, Millennium (Takeda) and Janssen (Johnson&Johnson) in a patent validity and infringement lawsuit at the Court of Milan against a German manufacturer in relation to a leading anti-cancer pharmaceutical product
  • assisting JC Bamford Excavators Limited on a multi-jurisdictional patent validity and infringement case concerning telescopic handlers
  • advising Lundbeck on a variety of patent and regulatory law matters in relation to medicinal products for the central nervous system