Mewburn Ellis welcomes Deborah Bould, further strengthening its patent litigation team

We are thrilled to announce that Deborah Bould will join the firm as a Partner on 1 September 2026 to support its Engineering and Technology practice, further strengthening its rapidly growing patent litigation capabilities across the UK and Europe.

Deborah is a highly experienced litigator with a strong focus on patent dispute resolution and standards essential patent assertions. She brings more than 25 years’ experience advising clients on complex patent disputes across a wide range of emerging technologies, including the Internet of Things (IoT).

Her experience spans litigation, arbitration, mediation, licensing compliance programmes and freedom-to-operate reviews. Much of Deborah’s work has been multi-jurisdictional, involving the development of IP enforcement and defence strategies across key international markets, including the USA, China, and Europe.

Deborah has acted on high-profile patent disputes for clients across sectors including technology, industrials, energy and natural resources, consumer goods and retail. Her arrival adds further depth to Mewburn Ellis’ contentious IP offering and enhances the firm’s ability to support clients navigating complex, cross-border patent disputes.

By welcoming Deborah, we continue to reinforce our commitment to expanding our IP litigation capabilities and supporting clients through the new era of European patent litigation under the UPC.

Deborah joins following a period of continued growth for the litigation team, including the appointment of life sciences and healthcare specialist Camilla Balleny as Head of Patent Litigation, bringing almost two decades of experience and leading the development of the firm’s patent litigation offering. This was followed by the arrival of Amy Crouch, who has deep experience in high-profile life science patent litigation in Europe. More recently, Aled Richards-Jones joined the firm, whose practice focuses on patent and SPC litigation, particularly in the life sciences sector.

The appointment comes at a significant moment for the disputes practice. The firm recently achieved new recognition for Patent Disputes and Trade Mark Disputes in the 2026 IP STARS rankings from Managing IP, as well as in the IAM Patent 1000 litigation rankings. These achievements reflect the continued expansion of the firm’s contentious IP offering and builds on a period that has seen us invest heavily in patent litigation talent and capabilities across Europe.

Commenting on the appointment, Chairperson Richard Johnson said:

“Deborah brings the kind of specialist litigation expertise and international perspective that our clients need. Her arrival is another important milestone as we continue to build out our IP offering. She joins a team that has grown significantly over the past year, and her expertise complements the strong foundation we are continuing to build in patent litigation.

Deborah’s extensive experience in complex patent disputes, particularly in standards essential patents and multi-jurisdictional litigation, will be hugely valuable to our clients. Her appointment further strengthens our ability to support businesses navigating high-stakes disputes in the UK, Europe and internationally.”

Sean Jauss, Head of Legal Services stated:

“Deborah joining our litigation team is extremely exciting. The firm has made strong inroads in European patent litigation over the last few years. This was turbo-charged in the biopharmaceutical space by Camilla, Amy and Aled joining us last year and complementing our world-class life science patent opposition bench. Now with Deborah joining, we will be able to service our clients across the full spectrum of technology patent litigation in Europe, especially in the SEP and FRAND space, and across a wide spectrum of sectors, from video codecs and data transmission, to IoT and AI, and next generation engines. This will be incredibly valuable to our clients in these emerging technology sectors and a hugely synergistic boost to our rapidly expanding Engineering and Technology contentious practice.”

Deborah added:

“I’m absolutely delighted to be joining Mewburn Ellis at such an exciting stage in the development of its impressive litigation practice. The firm’s Engineering & Technology team is second to none; I’m looking forward to adding further depth to that team and working with outstanding colleagues across the firm to help clients resolve complex patent disputes and protect their innovation in key markets, including before the UPC.”