Photos Available Upon Request

For Immediate Release   July 21, 2006 202 383-7127     

HOWREY BRUSSELS ADDS TOP LIFE SCIENCES, PHARMA AND MEDIA & ENTERTAINMENT LAWYERS TO IP PRACTICE

Brussels, Belgium, July 21, 2006…Howrey’s Brussels office announced today that its expansion continues, this time adding three leading lawyers to its Brussels IP practice.  Joining the firm are Benoît Strowel, leading Life Sciences IP lawyer, Maarten Meulenbelt, a leader and expert in European Pharmaceutical law (regulatory & litigation) and also in EU procurement law, and Fabienne Brison, Professor and a leader of Media and Entertainment law. All join from NautaDutilh Brussels. 

Carl De Meyer, head of the Brussels IP practice, said, “This group adds even more depth to our IP practice specifically in three very important areas of IP law: life sciences, pharmaceuticals and media and entertainment.  In conjunction with Howrey’s existing preeminent IP and Competition practice in the US and Europe, Howrey’s Brussels practice is now fully geared to service clients’ needs and remain a leader in the cutting edge of technology.  We are very happy to welcome Benoît, Maarten and Fabienne to Howrey, as they are experts in their respective fields and we are proud to have them join the team.”

Alan Grimaldi, worldwide Co-Chair of the IP Practice, echoed De Meyer’s comments. “Over the past five years, we have had stunning success developing our IP practice in Europe.  Starting with London in 2001, Amsterdam in 2003 and Brussels and Paris only last year, we have been successful in attracting some of Europe’s leading practitioners - Professor Willem Hoyng in Amsterdam, Marina Cousté in Paris, Carl De Meyer in Brussels and now Benoît, Maarten and Fabienne.  We look forward to extending our transatlantic reach for the benefit of our clients.  These are exciting times to be at Howrey.”

Trevor Soames, Managing Partner and Head of Practice of the Competition practice in Brussels, added: “We are delighted to have them on board.  We believe that the combination of strong IP and Competition practices can only benefit our mutual clients. After the recent growth in the Competition practice, the further growth of the IP team will enhance Howrey’s ability to assist our clients to face the most challenging legal issues in a very competitive market environment”.  

Howrey has 14 offices globally with over 575 attorneys. Howrey’s IP practice currently accounts for more than 255 IP attorneys worldwide. The IP practice group has enjoyed several strong years and currently accounts for more than 40% of the firm’s total revenue.

BIOS FOLLOW; PHOTOS AVAILABLE UPON REQUEST

Benoît Strowel was Head of IP of NautaDutilh Brussels.  He is a preeminent leader in the field of life sciences, is consistently ranked among the top practitioners in his field. His practice focuses in particular on patent law and more generally all regulatory and intellectual property issues facing pharmaceutical companies. He is particularly interested in the biotech sector, and has an M.Sc. in general biochemistry and molecular biology at the School of Health and Life Sciences of King´s College, London. Benoît obtained his law degree from the University of Leuven in 1984, worked in London for five years, during which period he was admitted to practice as a solicitor in England. He joined NautaDutilh in September 1994 and became a partner in 1997. Benoît is member of AIPLA, EPLA and AIPPI.

Maarten Meulenbelt, a leader and expert in Pharmaceutical law, focuses on European law in the life sciences sector, notably regulatory affairs and competition law,  and public procurement at both the Community and national levels. Maarten graduated from the University of Utrecht in 1992. He joined NautaDutilh as a partner in March 2001 and became Head of the Life Sciences group. He is highly recommended in European Counsel’s Life Sciences Industry Report and Global Counsel’s Life Sciences Report for regulatory and competition law, in both Belgium and the Netherlands and for his EU level work. He publishes and lectures regularly on these topics in Europe and the US. Maarten is member of the editorial board of Regulatory Affairs Journal Pharma..

Fabienne Brison, Professor at Brussels’ VUB University as well as at the KUB University, teaches courses on intellectual property and the legal aspects of mass media and of information technology at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB), as well as a course on neighboring rights in the master's degree programme in intellectual property at the Katholieke Universiteit Brussel (KUB). Fabienne has advised and defended the interests of well-known artists, film and phonogram producers, music and book publishers, cable distributors, and telecommunication providers. Fabienne graduated from VUB in 1987.  In 1988, she received a DEA in Propriété littéraire, artistique et industrielle from the University of Paris II. In 1998, she completed her doctorate in law at VUB. In 1993 she was visiting scholar at the Max Planck Institüt für ausländisches und internationales Patent-, Urheber- und Wettbewerbsrecht in Munich. She chairs the Belgian section of ALAI, and she is Vice President of the Council for Intellectual Property, section Copyright. In 2000, she joined NautaDutilh as of counsel.