Caroline Scott

About Me

Caroline Scott is a Senior Associate Solicitor based in DLA Piper's Edinburgh office.  Coming up for 10 years qualified this year, Caroline trained at McGrigors (now Pinsent Masons) and worked there as a Public Policy Account Executive for a year following qualification, gaining valuable insight into her clients' business strategy and helping them determine, and in some cases re-shape, the legislation passing through the Scottish Parliament.  Since joining the Intellectual Property and Technology team at DLA Piper in 2011, she has been an active member of the firm's Life Sciences Sector Group, a sector for which she has been passionate ever since writing her L.L.B. Honours dissertation on stem cell research and cloning.  

Caroline works for a wide variety of public, private and charitable entities in the sector, ranging from pharmaceutical companies, medical device companies, clinical trial services companies, diagnostic imaging manufacturers and medical technology companies to stem cell technology companies, medical research charities and an executive non-departmental public body of the Department of Health.  

She advises clients on a range of different agreements and issues relating to the sector's regulatory framework in the UK, intellectual property, public procurement, outsourcing of drug development, collaborations, data sharing, clinical trials, manufacturing, distribution of medical devices, storage of stem cells and transfer of research materials between facilities, all giving her valuable insight into the healthcare industry.

A particular highlight of her career so far has been advising NHS England on two transformational and innovative projects; firstly, to sequence 100,000 genomes from patients with rare diseases and cancer, linking the data to a standardised set of diagnosis and treatment options, followed by the consolidation of the genomic laboratory network through the procurement of genomic laboratory hubs and the creation of a new IT system to harmonise the genetic test ordering and results process and create a database for both clinical treatment and research purposes.  This all part of NHS England's move towards a more centralised genomic testing service, incorporated into routine clinical care.

 Caroline has recently chaired a panel on collaborations and intellectual property at the Microbiome Invest Congress 2019 with panellists from Reckitt Benckiser, Bio-Me, and Merck Ventures. Caroline co-authored and was instrumental in the publication of DLA Piper's recent Brexit Guide: The Implications for the Life Sciences Sector.