Steven Gurney qualified as a UK attorney in 2005, a European Attorney in 2006 and an Australian attorney in 2009 and has considerable experience with both contentious and non-contentious work, particularly in the pharmaceutical and chemical fields.
Steven represents a range of clients including multinational pharmaceutical companies, universities, government departments and authorities and Australian based drug discovery companies. He advises clients across a broad range of areas including strategic advice on patent portfolios, due diligence and freedom to operate, drafting and prosecution, and opposition and other contentious matters including litigation support.
Steven has particular knowledge and expertise in the field of pharmaceutical patent law and its associated legal and regulatory challenges and opportunities. He believes that it is important to have a global perspective on IP and to understand the commercial objectives driving decision making. He works closely with his clients to understand their needs and achieve their aims.
Steven holds an honours degree from the University of Birmingham in Chemistry with Biological Chemistry. As well as studying the traditional areas of organic, inorganic and physical chemistry, Steven's thesis investigated novel DNA binding proteins. The eventual goal of the project was to set up a phage-DNA library that could then be used to design novel nucleotide specific DNA binding proteins. Steven is also an experienced tutor and is a senior fellow of the Melbourne Law School, teaching European patent law.
Steven joined the FB Rice & Co Chemistry group in September 2007 and is located in our Sydney office.
