James Fry

Partner, Head of Life Sciences

photo for James Fry

What can I do for you

James heads the firm's fast growing, multi-disciplinary life sciences practice and focuses exclusively on this sector. The practice supports clients in the pharma and biotech, medical device, diagnostic, medtech and digital health sub-sectors and is described by the main legal directories as providing an "excellent level of service". James' own practice focuses on intellectual property, commercial contracting and regulatory work.

What do others say

The directories note James for his capabilities as a commercial and transactional IP adviser and clients say that he is "approachable and extremely knowledgeable". The most recent directories (2018/2019) say his "pharmaceutical and biotech expertise is first class" and he "consistently provide sound, pragmatic advice".

Supporting your ambitions

James has supported many businesses in the sector over many years and he is used to supporting across the full product lifecycle, from start-up to commercialisation. A key focus of his work is supporting clients on strategic contracting covering technology/IP in and out-licensing transactions, research collaborations, clinical trial agreements and long-term partnering agreements. He also advises on sector regulation including pharma and medical device regulation, market access, borderline products, advertising and clinical trials. The team is currently delivering a complex product compliance project for a global pharma business using lawyers across the team with different disciplines.

What else should you know?

James supports a number of the firm's university clients on strategic IP issues and major collaborations in the biomedical space.

He has a number of non-executive board director roles and is a trustee of the National Space Centre in Leicester and a board director of British Canoeing, the national governing body for paddlesport in the UK.

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What our clients say about us

“I think Mills & Reeve are a wonderful firm. The support they have provided to us in a really difficult area has been brilliant, collaborative and commercially minded. The team were absolutely wonderful and a joy to work with. Amazing advice and support and a real collaborative effort with us. I can't thank them enough for getting us through some really tough times and doing so with an amazing can-do attitude.”

“They are friendly, fast, always available and always on top of the game. I tend to judge my legal team against the other side's legal team and never doubt Mills & Reeve is the better of the two.”

“All interactions have been very clear. Responses to questions have always been very swift and unambiguous. Our company, and my family, have used various services in Mills & Reeve with the same level of satisfaction.”

“I value the fact that Mills & Reeve are recognised as a good place to work in the UK Best Companies survey. This aligns with the values of our business and means that Mills & Reeve can share what is required to achieve this status with our business.”