Jim Ford
Partner
London
Jim Ford
Partner
London
Contact Details
Jim has a broad commercial practice, focused on technology-rich sectors including pharmaceuticals, biotechnology, IT and media.
Jim specialises in non-contentious intellectual property and information technology law. Jim brings strategic and commercial IP and IT advice to M&A, corporate and finance transactions including advising on several joint ventures, long-term collaboration and licensing agreements. Jim also has experience advising on other arrangements for the exploitation of IP, including advertising and sponsorship agreements, and taking security over IP.
Jim is Co-head of Allen & Overy's global Life Sciences sector group and is Chair of A&Out (Allen & Overy's LGBT Network).
Expertise
Practices
Sectors
Qualifications
Professional
Academic
BA (Hons), Jurisprudence, Hertford College, Oxford University, 1995
LPC (Distinction), Oxford Institution of Legal Practice, 1996
Related articles
Blog Post: 04 January 2023
Why AI drug discovery deals are different from traditional pharma collaborations
Pharma companies have been working with artificial intelligence (AI) for a decade or more. As the cost and time of bringing a new drug to market continues to rise, pharma companies are increasingly…
Publications: 20 December 2022
Why AI drug discovery deals are different from traditional pharma collaborations
Experience highlights
Advising Exscientia on a research collaboration and licence agreement with Roche pursuant to which Exscientia will use its AI drug discovery platform to design pre-clinical drug candidates for Roche.
CLS, the market leading FX service provider, on the launch of two new products: its CLSNet product (a bilateral transaction netting solution) and its related CLSTradeMonitor product (an innovative post-trade monitoring and reporting tool). Our advice covered the entirety of the products’ development and launch phases, and included advising on a range of issues relating to the distributed ledger technology platform on which the CLSNet product can operate.
GRAIL on a collaboration agreement with UCL and UCLH. GRAIL is a healthcare company that uses the power of high-intensity sequencing, population-scale clinical studies, and state-of-the-art computer science and data science to detect cancer early.
Advising Grünenthal, the German pharmaceutical group, on its agreement with AstraZeneca to acquire the global rights to migraine medication Zomig®. Grünenthal will pay AstraZeneca USD200m for the global rights (excluding Japan) to Zomig® upon completion, with up to USD102m to be paid in future milestone payments.
Expertise
Practices
Sectors
Qualifications
Professional
Academic
BA (Hons), Jurisprudence, Hertford College, Oxford University, 1995
LPC (Distinction), Oxford Institution of Legal Practice, 1996
Other noteworthy experience
Advising:
- Asahi Group on IP, transitional services and commercial contracts aspects of its EUR7.30bn acquisition of the Central & Eastern European business of SABMiller by way of auction.
- Marks and Spencer on its 50/50 joint venture with Ocado Group. Under the terms of the transaction, M&S will acquire a 50% stake in an existing Ocado entity and, from completion, operate Ocado's UK retail business.
Recommended content
Pro bono
- Advising Stonewall on the recently passed Turing's Law which pardoned gay men for historic outlawed homosexual acts
- Advising Queer Britain (the UK's first LGBT+ museum) on sponsorship arrangements
Recognition
He is very good and straightforward to deal with.
Chambers UK 2020
Jim Ford is an extraordinary commercial lawyer. He is thorough, smart, commercial and tough, but balanced.
Legal 500 UK 2020
An expert on commercial brand exploitation and highly recommended for sponsorship work.
Legal 500 UK 2019
Highly regarded in the market as a consummate deals lawyer with a keen head of technology.
Chambers UK 2019 (Information Technology)
Awards & accolades
Jim has been ranked in the OUTstanding top 100 LGBT Executives List for the past three years
Presented by the Financial Times, 2018
