Christian Harmsen is partner and head of the firm's German intellectual property practice group and co-head of the international IP-group. He is experienced in all areas of intellectual property. Herewith, his focus is on international patent litigation of all technical areas. Over the past years he has lead and coordinated a number of multi-national proceedings for clients such as Honeywell, Electrolux, Caterpillar, Dade Behring and Pharmacia. But he also successfully represents mid-cap companies like a German railway company achieving after three instances the brake-through decision of the Federal Supreme Court "Laufkranz" in 2006.

The JUVE Handbook for commercial law firms 2008/ 2009 describes Christian as one of the "leading partners among patent litigators". The 2007 edition of Chambers Global states that clients applauded him for his great experience, creativity and negotiation skills. In 2001, Christian was recognized by the lawyers publication JUVE as "Top 40 under 40" and, thus, one of the leading German lawyers of his generation.

Christian completed his legal studies at the University of Hamburg. During his professional training, he practiced at the German Patent and Trademark Office in Munich and the US firm Baker & Hostetler in Palo Alto. He was admitted to the Düsseldorf Bar in 1997 and is a founding partner of Bird & Bird’s presence in Germany, opened 2002 in Düsseldorf.

Christian is a member of the German Intellectual Property and Copyright Association (GRUR) and its committees on patent and utility model law and on the protection of plants. He is also a member of AIPPI, EPLAW, LES and AIPLA. He lectures regularly on various themes relating to the practice of intellectual property law.