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Monique O'Donoghue

Monique O’Donoghue advises and represents clients in complex commercial disputes, serving as counsel in commercial arbitrations, including in both ad hoc proceedings under the UNCITRAL Rules, and institutional arbitrations under the rules of the ICC, the LCIA, the DIAC, and the SIAC.

Monique’s practice covers a range of geographic regions, including Europe, the Middle East, Asia, Africa, and Latin America, and she has advised and represented international clients in complex commercial disputes in a range of industries and sectors, including technology, consumer brands, and oil and gas.

Monique also draws on substantial experience in intellectual property disputes, both as counsel in arbitrations and litigation in the U.S. Federal Courts, and understands the unique issues that can arise in intellectual property matters.

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On 23 January 2025, we hosted the 2025 edition of the Covington European Life Sciences Symposium. The Symposium brought together colleagues from London, Brussels, Frankfurt and Dublin with our industry connections to explore the evolving challenges and opportunities facing the European life sciences sector.

Throughout the day our speakers shared their perspectives on a range of legal, regulatory, and business trends, including the evolving regulatory frameworks in the EU and UK; information exchange in ongoing collaboration; investigations and whistleblowing; key ESG topics, and the complexity of options to acquire in pharma deals.

We have set out some of the discussion from the sessions below.

European Life Sciences – The Changing Landscape for Pharma and Biotech

Grant Castle, Head of Covington’s European Life Sciences Regulatory Practice, Peter Bogaert, Marie Doyle-Rossie and Anna Wawrzyniak kicked off with a discussion about the Changing Landscape for Pharma and Biotech.

The UK and EU both aim to deliver access to innovative and transformative medicines and foster international competitiveness in the life sciences industry. Despite the practical challenges faced by the UK Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) in recent years, it has emerged as an ambitious regulator and is establishing innovative regulatory frameworks, including an international reliance scheme (see our update here), point of care manufacturing regulations, and the relaunch of the Innovative Licensing and Access Pathway (ILAP).

The EU is also pursuing a wave of legislative reform, including wide ranging revisions to the EU’s pharmaceutical legislation, the EU’s supplementary protection certificates (SPC) rules, and proposals for a compulsory licensing scheme.

There can sometimes be a tension between the UK’s and EU’s aims and the practical impacts of regulatory reform, especially in the early stages of implementation.Continue Reading The Covington European Life Sciences Symposium 2025