Lara is a Senior Associate in the electronics patents team in the London office of Marks & Clerk. Lara has experience drafting and prosecuting patent applications relating to a wide range of technologies, including in particular cryptography, video coding, natural language processing, machine learning, medical devices, wireless networking, optical devices and semiconductor devices. Lara has successfully represented clients at oral proceedings at the EPO, and has experience of EPO opposition and appeal proceedings. In addition, she works on standards essentiality evaluations for European Patents, with particular expertise in MPEG standards. Lara acts on behalf of clients of all sizes, from individual inventors, through to SMEs and large multinationals. She has experience prosecuting applications in multiple jurisdictions including Europe, the US, China and Japan.
 
Lara joined Marks & Clerk in 2012. She qualified as a UK Chartered Patent Attorney in 2016, having been awarded the Moss Prize for the highest aggregate mark in the Basic UK Patent Law and Basic Overseas Patent Law papers. She also qualified as a European Patent Attorney in 2016, having achieved the highest mark in Europe for the English language Opposition paper.
 
Lara graduated from Durham University in 2007 with a first class degree in Physics. She went on to obtain a PhD from the University of Cambridge in 2011. Her PhD involved studying itinerant electron systems under extreme conditions such as high pressure and low temperature, with a focus on resistivity and synchrotron X-ray powder diffraction measurements.
 
Lara has been recognised as a rising star by Managing Intellectual Property, IP Stars, 2019.