Lainson, Daphne

Daphne Lainson is a principal in Smart & Biggar's Ottawa office and Chair of the Firm. With close to 25 years of experience in law and patent agency and an advanced degree in chemistry, she has been entrusted with protecting inventions across the spectrum of chemical innovation. Daphne enthusiastically champions and effectively safeguards her clients’ intellectual property rights relating to new drugs, biologics, medical devices, consumer products, agrochemicals, specialty chemicals, industrial chemical processes, oil, gas and petrochemicals.

Daphne is actively involved in advancing knowledge within the industry through the American Intellectual Property Law Association (AIPLA); she is an AIPLA Fellow, Chair of the Fellows Committee, and past Chair of the Food and Drug Law Committee, IP Practice in Japan Committee, Mentoring Committee and Women in Intellectual Property Law Committee. She also served as Chair of the AIPLA Mid-Winter Institutes in 2019 and 2021.

Daphne has also supported BIOTECanada in its mission to lead the advancement of a globally competitive Canadian biotechnology ecosystem.

Within Smart & Biggar, she plays a key role as a practice leader of the firm’s life sciences practice and in client relations management, particularly in key industrial markets, such as the U.S., Japan and Germany.

Her contribution to the IP community was recognized 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. She continues to be recognized in a number of other directories, including as an IP Star by Managing Intellectual Property, a World IP Review Leader in IP and a Lexpert ranked lawyer for IP and Biotechnology.