Nigel Swycher

Honorary Fellow and Professor in Practice

Nigel is a Professor in Practice with the Law School focussing on intellectual property business and strategy. 

Nigel is the co-founder and former Chief Executive of Cipher, the first strategic patent analytics platform to be implemented using AI and machine learning. Cipher was acquired by LexisNexis in 2023. Before that he was a partner in Slaughter and May where he was head of its IP group and subsequently a partner and Head of the Technology Group at Olswang (which subsequently became part of CMS). 

He is recognised as a leading IP strategist (IAM 300) and, when in practice, as a leading IP practitioner in the two legal directories (Legal 500 and Chambers). Nigel is already a Faculty member of CIP (the Centre for Intellectual Property) at the University of Gothenburg.

His publications include: 

- Who owns the world’s patents (Open Register of Patent Ownership, 2015)

- What technology unicorns can tell us about the real world, Borges, Swycher (IAM feature, 2016)

- The future of mobility: can patents keep up? Swycher, Harris (IAM, 2017)

- The role of AI in evidence based strategic IP decisions, Swycher, Harris (IAM, 2018)

- How many patents are enough? Swycher, Harris (IAM, 2019)

- Construction and evaluation of gold standards for patent classification, Harris, Trippe, Challis, Swycher (World Patent Information, 2020)

- Cipher report on Portfolio Optimisation, Swycher, Harris (Cipher report, 2020)

- Beyond Portfolio Optimisation: understanding the connection between patent cost and value, Swycher, Harris, McMahon (IAM, 2020)

- Pulling back the curtain: calculating the return on investment of patent portfolios, Chan, Harris, Liu, Swycher (Cipher, Meta report, 2021)

- The management of patent risk, Swycher, Levoir (Cipher report, 2021)

- Dispelling the benchmarking myth: how machine learning increases efficiency and reduces cost, Swycher, McMahon (Cipher report, 2021)

- LOT Network Report, how the world’s largest patent portfolio reduces risk from patent assertion entities, Seddon, Swycher, Richardson (2021)

- The contribution of patents to enterprise value, Swycher, Harris (Cipher report, 2022)

Media

- Cipher Vision podcast, 3 series (recognised as top 10 IP podcasts, 2022)

- LexisNexis Evolving IP podcast: https://www.lexisnexisip.com/resources/podcasts/lexisnexis-evolving-ip/

Other interests

Member of the Magic Circle