PARTNER
Donal represents academic institutes, start-up enterprises and emerging corporations from the healthcare, nutrition and medical device sectors in examination, opposition and appeal proceedings before the EPO, the EUIPO, the Irish Patents Office and the UKIPO.
As the only IP practitioner in Ireland to be certified in IP litigation and advocacy by the Nottingham Law School, Donal is uniquely competent to represent directly before the European Unified Patent Court (UPC). He is also a proficient advocate at oral proceedings, and familiar counsel before the Opposition Divisions and Boards of Appeal of the EPO.
Donal completed an undergraduate degree in cell biology and molecular genetics at University College Dublin and was conferred with a PhD in molecular oncology from the Queen’s University of Belfast.
Donal is recognised as one of the leading IP practitioners in the world by the World Intellectual Property Review (WIPR), noted as an IP Star by Managing Intellectual Property (IPSTARS), and acknowledged as world-class, private practice patent expertise by the IAM Patent 1000.
Prominent educational and professional bodies, including universities and the Law Society of Ireland, regularly curate Donal to speak on the subject of IP. He provides free-to-access mentoring to rising entrepreneurial ventures in accelerator and incubator hubs through Google for Entrepreneurs and has been a guest contributor to the peer-revered IPKat blog. Donal also authored the Practical Guide to Managing Intellectual Property & Confidentiality for Knowledge Transfer Ireland, the national body established to oversee the technology transfer system in Ireland.
