Deborah Niven

Deborah Niven

Partner and Head of Intellectual Property

People

Introducing Deborah

Deborah Niven is a Partner and Head of Intellectual Property at Flint Bishop, based in our Sheffield office.

She joined the firm in February 2026 from national firm gunnercooke LLP, bringing more than 25 years’ experience advising clients on the protection, commercialisation and management of intellectual property and technology assets.

Deborah is widely regarded as a highly experienced intellectual property and information technology lawyer. She is known for delivering commercially pragmatic, solutions-focused advice that helps clients maximise the value of their intellectual property and IT assets while effectively managing risk.

Clients value Deborah’s technical expertise, strategic insight and proactive, can-do approach. Whether supporting a fast-growth start-up or advising an established organisation, she focuses on achieving practical outcomes that align with her clients’ commercial objectives.

People

Deborah's experience

Deborah advises clients across the full lifecycle of intellectual property and technology matters.

Her work includes auditing and identifying IP assets; advising on protection and registration strategies; commercialising new ideas and inventions; and drafting and negotiating contracts, assignments and licence agreements. She also supports clients in enforcing and defending IP and IT rights, as well as advising on confidentiality, data protection and regulatory considerations.

Her client base spans a broad range of sectors and business stages, including PLCs, owner-managed businesses, university enterprise centres and spin-out companies. She regularly advises technology businesses, software developers, manufacturers, creative and design agencies, as well as entrepreneurs and inventors.

Notable work highlights include:

Advising an automotive business on copyright issues arising from the development of its software products in the lead-up to a multi-million-pound sale, helping to facilitate a successful transaction.
Drafting a suite of IT agreements for a start-up providing a cloud-based service to clients in the insurance and legal sectors, including support agreements, privacy policies, website terms and licensing arrangements.
Advising a manufacturing company on the renegotiation of a patent and know-how licence arrangement with a Polish supplier, securing ownership of new technological developments for the client.
Supporting a food sector business with the registration of key trade marks and registered designs to protect its expanding brand and packaging.
Defending a client against trade mark infringement allegations brought by a multinational brand owner.
Advising the joint liquidators of a cloud-based company processing sensitive medical patient data on intellectual property and data-related issues.

Deborah works closely with colleagues across corporate, commercial and dispute resolution teams to ensure intellectual property considerations are fully integrated into transactions, growth strategies and risk management planning.

Introducing Deborah

Deborah's experience

Expertise

Deborah can help you with

Data protection

IT and e-commerce contracts

Trade mark registrations

Contact

Get in touch with Deborah

Have you found what you are looking for?