Ammina Rao

Ammina Rao is a Senior Associate and a UK-qualified solicitor with expertise in intellectual property, healthcare and regulatory law. Her primary practice area is Intellectual Property Law.

She advises clients on a range of matters in her areas of practice and regularly drafts a variety of commercial agreements, including IP licensing and transfer agreements, technology transfer agreements, collaboration agreements, operation and management agreements, and healthcare facility and licensing agreements.

She also advises on corporate healthcare transactions and matters relating to healthcare data obligations, malpractice and market entry of various pharmaceutical products. Prior to joining Al Tamimi & Company, she worked at a prestigious London law firm following the completion of her training contract in 2018.

Her recent intellectual property experience includes drafting a variety of IP assignments, IP licences, R&D and collaboration agreements, technology transfer agreements, NDAs, and commercialisation and supply agreements for a wide range of clients, including local and international clients in pharma and tech; managing large-scale legislation gap analysis projects for various governmental entities and providing legislative amendment recommendations; and conducting and managing IP due diligence and drafting transaction documents for international and local technology and pharmaceutical clients as part of large corporate transactions.

She has also advised companies in various industries including tech and pharma on IP protection strategies in various MENA countries; acted for large-scale pharmaceutical clients, most recently AbbVie/Pharmacyclics, in patent opposition proceedings; advised local and international clients on IP infringement strategies and issuing proceedings in the UAE and elsewhere in the GCC; advised and drafted freedom-to-operate opinions; assisted clients including universities in strategising and identifying IP objectives and drafting innovation and IP policies and guidelines; and managed pharmaceutical patent portfolios in various GCC countries, working closely with patent attorney team members on substantive prosecution work. She has also worked on several high-profile patent litigation cases in the UK and Europe for various tech and pharma companies.

Her healthcare and regulatory experience includes drafting operation and management, white label, service and other commercial agreements with a particular focus on the healthcare and life sciences sectors; advising on healthcare and regulatory compliance requirements for local and international clients, including facility set-up, licensing and management agreements, healthcare research requirements, and medical device and pharmaceutical product regulation from federal and emirate level perspectives; advising clients on healthcare and personal data law requirements, as well as consumer protection issues arising with regard to healthcare products and devices, and medical malpractice claims; advising on and facilitating the market entry of various healthcare products within the UAE; and working on M&A transactions and conducting and managing healthcare, regulatory and technology due diligence for international pharmaceutical clients and large local companies.

She holds a Post Graduate Diploma in Intellectual Property Law from the University of Oxford (2019), an Accelerated Legal Practice Course (Distinction) from the University of Law (2016), an LLM in Commercial Law (Distinction) from the University of Birmingham (2015), a Bar Professional Training Course from the College of Law (2011), a Graduate Diploma in Law from the College of Law (2010) and a BSc in Cellular and Molecular Biology from the University of Minnesota/Winona State University (2008). She was admitted as a Solicitor in England & Wales in 2018 and speaks English, Hindi and Urdu.