Smart & Biggar names Daphne Lainson as Chair of the Firm

Smart & Biggar is pleased to announce the appointment of Daphne Lainson to the role of Chair of the Firm, effective January 1, 2020. 

Daphne is a partner in Smart & Biggar’s Ottawa office and has served as a leader in the Life Sciences, Regulatory and Chemical & Biotechnology practice groups. She has also been actively involved in managing international client relationships particularly in key industrial markets, such as the U.S., Japan and Germany, and in developing new Canadian markets and client relationships in Western Canada, including Calgary and Vancouver.

”For many years Daphne has played a key leadership role at Smart & Biggar and within the IP community at large.” Says Steven Garland, Firm Managing Partner. “She is admired by clients and colleagues alike, a trusted counselor, an advisor and thought leader and a respected ambassador for the firm. We look forward to her guidance and leadership as Chair, to support the growth of the firm and to help Smart & Biggar assert its position as Canada’s leading firm for intellectual property, technology and related specialty areas of law.”

With close to two decades of experience as a lawyer and patent agent and an advanced degree in chemistry, Daphne is a trusted counselor to her clients and assists in protecting inventions across the spectrum of chemical innovation. Clients look to her to provide strategic advice across the life cycle of a drug, including during pre-clinical and clinical development, through to marketing and loss of exclusivity.

Daphne is actively involved in advancing knowledge within the IP industry through the American Intellectual Property Law Association (AIPLA) and was recently awarded the prestigious President’s Outstanding Service Award, in recognition of extraordinary and selfless personal efforts to both mentor and enhance the ‎mission of the AIPLA. She is an AIPLA Fellow, and currently serves as Chair of the Food and Drug Law Committee, and is past chair of the AIPLA IP Practice in Japan Committee, the AIPLA Mentoring Committee and the AIPLA Women in Intellectual Property Law Committee.   

Her client achievements and contributions to the IP community have been widely recognized through numerous industry accolades and awards, including inclusion in the inaugural edition of the WIPR Influential Women in IP, where she was listed as one of 80 international female leaders in intellectual property law. 

Smart & Biggar is widely recognized as Canada’s leading firm for intellectual property law, with offices in Ottawa, Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver and Calgary. We are leaders in intellectual property and technology law and have been serving clients for over a century.