Before joining Bird & Bird, Manuel Lobato had been a partner at both Gomez-Acebo & Pombo and Baker & McKenzie. He has advised many research-based pharmaceutical companies on intellectual property litigation, regulatory issues and contract law. He has also been involved in regulatory litigation against the Spanish Health National and Regional Administration (administrative control of prescriptions) and has advised international companies on Community Trade Mark and unfair competition litigation. Manuel has also advised life sciences companies on patent litigation and drafting of technology transfer contracts. In addition to intellectual property law, Manuel also advises on commercial and company law matters particularly for joint ventures and winding up businesses. He is regarded as a specialist in pharmaceutical law and pharmaceutical data exclusivity, as well as in patent and trade mark law.

Manuel is a Professor of Law (commercial law, corporate law and intellectual property law) at the Autonomous University of Madrid. Until 2002, Manuel was General Secretary of the CEFI Foundation and of the University Institute for Business Administration of the Autonomous University of Madrid. He regularly lectures on intellectual property law and pharmaceutical law in Latin American countries at seminars organised by several universities (Católica of Lima, Savana in Colombia, etc.), judicial schools (Costa Rica) and private institutions. He has also taken part in intellectual property seminars for judges organised by the Spanish Judicial Institute. As a researcher, he is the author of legal publications on intellectual property law (patent, trade mark and copyright), insolvency law and contract law. His exhaustive commentary on the New Spanish Trade Mark Act (1,200 pages long) has been quoted several times in rulings by the specialist Mercantile Courts. His monograph on Private Law and Procedural Questions of the Community Trade Mark was quoted by Advocate General Ruiz-Jarabo in his Opinion on Case C-206/04 P.

Manuel is rated as a notable practitioner in Chambers Europe 2007 for Intellectual Property and Life Sciences. Clients commented that he is an “extremely important lawyer on the Spanish IP scene, having an encyclopaedic knowledge of IP and an excellent client-oriented practice.” For Life Sciences he is noted for being a “tireless specialist with an impressive knowledge of the sector, particularly in patent-related matters.”