Global law firm Goodwin announced today that Sophie McGrath has joined the firm’s European Life Sciences practice as a partner in the London office. With a focus on the life sciences, technology and impact investment industries, McGrath represents venture capital and private equity investors, management teams and companies through all stages of development
“Goodwin is a unique international law firm as it arranges itself along sector lines rather than legal practice areas. This suits my practice perfectly, given my focus on the life sciences and technology sectors. Goodwin’s multi-disciplinary approach to these sectors, enlisting lawyers across different jurisdictions and specialist areas, is a fantastic approach to serving the legal needs of clients in these sectors,” said McGrath. “I am excited to be joining this market leading platform, which is perfectly suited to the needs of investors, management teams and companies across these sophisticated and ever expanding sectors.”
McGrath advises clients on a wide range of corporate matters, including private and public financings, mergers and acquisitions, public offerings and restructurings and is a recommended lawyer for Venture Capital and M&A in the Legal 500 UK. In addition to her work in the life sciences and technology sectors, McGrath has a particular interest in the impact investment sector, acting for both investors and companies that are targeting a “double bottom line”, either through environmental or social impact.
“Bringing innovative companies and investors together is a Goodwin hallmark,” said Mitchell Bloom, Chair of Goodwin’s Life Sciences practice. “This connectivity is one of the main reasons that our life sciences platform has become the leader in the U.S. market, leading to our expansion in Europe earlier this year with the addition of a powerhouse life sciences team that includes partners Graham Defries and Andrew Harrow in London. The addition of Sophie to the London team further strengthens our capability in Europe as we continue to build-out Goodwin’s international life sciences platform for the benefit of our clients. We are thrilled to welcome Sophie to the Goodwin partnership.”
Goodwin’s Life Sciences practice was named “Practice Group of the Year” for the past two years by Law360, which called the firm “a top choice for high-profile pharmaceutical clients, particularly in licensing deals, mergers and acquisitions, and initial public offerings.” Goodwin has been recognized by U.S. News and World Report – Best Lawyers as “Biotech Firm of Year” for five out of last six years. The firm was also named “2017 IP Law Firm of the Year” by LMG Life Sciences.
“Over the past five years, our London office has grown from just 15 lawyers in one practice to nearly 100 across four of Goodwin’s six key areas of focus,” said Samantha Lake Coghlan, Co-Chair of Goodwin’s London office. “We have been able to attract some of the best talent in the market as much because of our strategy as because of our culture, which is attractive to highly collaborative individuals with an entrepreneurial streak. Sophie is a perfect fit, both for our growing life sciences practice and for our culture. We are pleased to welcome her to Goodwin London.”
McGrath can be reached on smcgrath@goodwinlaw.com or 44.207.447.4821.
Earlier this year, Goodwin extended its Life Sciences practice to Europe and expanded in New York with the addition of a top-ranked team led by partners Kristopher Brown, Graham Defries, Andrew Harrow. Over the past several months, this team has been involved in some of Europe’s major biotechnology transactions for clients including Gadeta B.V., Zealand Pharma, and Orchard Therapeutics. Goodwin has advised clients in roughly 580 public offerings with an aggregate value approaching $80 billion over the past five years. In 2018 to date, the Life Sciences practice represented twenty five biotechnology companies on their public offerings with a collective value close to $4.4 billion.
Goodwin earned top spots across a number of categories and regions in Mergermarket’s Global & Regional M&A Report Q1-Q3 2018 report, moving into the leading positions and demonstrating that its platform is in more demand than ever before across the life sciences, technology and private equity sectors.