Julian Hitchcock's practice is marked out for its pragmatism and straightforwardness.  His LinkedIn Profile gives you a pretty good idea, but if you want to know more, read on,

Julian qualified as a solicitor in 1998 following an education in medicine and a career as a BBC science producer.  After initially practicing in patent law, he switched exclusively to life science law and regulation in 2004.  After 25 years of practice as a solicitor, including 5 years as Of Counsel in life science regulation at Bristows LLP, Julian started Biolawgy in 2023 in order to focus more deeply on the regulation of emerging and converging life science technologies.  As a consultant he now has more scope for providing strategic and policy advice.

Focus areas
Julian specialises in the law and regulation of biomedical products and services and research, advising many prominent clients, generally in an international context.  He is a leading authority on the law and regulation of cell, tissue and gene therapies, regenerative medicine, genomics and diagnostics, including both AI and ML-mediated diagnostics.

Immersion

A distinctive feature of Julian’s practice is the degree of his immersion in emerging and converging biomedical advances. He believes in the importance of working closely with scientists and in keeping abreast of scientific publications, as well as engaging fully with ethics and others concerned with the development of good life science laws and governance systems.  He has been influential in many areas of EU and UK life science law, including those concerning genetic testing, funding of human embryo research, and research data.

In 2016, his legal opinion on EU proposals for the regulation of genetic testing, commissioned by the European Society for Human Genetics and supported by institutions such as the Wellcome Trust and PHG Foundation, was invoked by the Dutch and UK governments to make important amendments to the In Vitro Diagnostic Medical Devices Regulation.   He was also ethics advisor to the European Research Council funded project that lead to the development of the first complete, "integrated" stem cell based embryo models, and a co-author of the 2018 Nuffield Council on Bioethics Report on  Genome Editing in Human Reproduction.  He is a member of the G-SCBEM working group responsible for drafting the UK's Code of Practice for the derivation and use of stem cell based embryo models and for establishing a governance framework.

Prior to Brexit, Julian instigated and advised (impartially) an inquiry held in the UK Parliament under the Chairmanship of George Freeman MP on the UK’s role in the development of EU life sciences regulation and its impacts on the UK. He later advised Mr Freeman on European legislative policy following his appointment as Minister for Life Sciences by David Cameron.  He was a member of two government advisory panels (the Emerging Science & Bioethics Advisory Committee and the Synthetic Biology Leadership Council) and continues to be consulted informally by government on an ad hoc basis.  Julian continues to enjoy a close discussion on emerging issues with senior UK regulators and clinical bodies.

Email Julian at julian@biolawgy.com