Robert Armitage joined Eli Lilly and Company as vice president and general patent counsel in October 1999. He became the company’s senior vice president and general counsel in 2003.

As a tireless campaigner for US patent reform, he has testified before Congress on IP policy issues. Armitage is a member and a past president of the American Intellectual Property Law Association and the Association of Corporate Patent Counsel. He has served as an adjunct professor of law at George Washington University and as a member of the board of directors of the Intellectual Property Owners Association.