Bird & Bird today appoints one of Australia's leading intellectual property lawyers, Lynne Lewis, as a partner in Sydney.
Lynne joins from Minter Ellison in Sydney where she was Head of the IP Group and has been a partner since 2008. Lynne is an experienced and respected advisor in the area of intellectual property. Her practice covers a broad cross section of IP disciplines for clients in numerous sectors including fast moving consumer goods, automotive, aviation, fashion, food and beverages, financial services, mining and telecommunications.
An area of particular focus for Lynne is the life sciences sector, within which she frequently provides litigation and commercial advice to the pharmaceutical, biotechnology and medical devices industries.
The Sydney IP practice has a significant patent litigation focus, with the major part of that practice being in the life sciences area. Lynne will provide a complementary skill set as additionally, Lynne's practice encompasses advising on all aspects of the creation, acquisition, commercialisation, management, protection and enforcement of intellectual property rights.
Lynne's appointment is another key step in Bird & Bird's ambition to be the leading IP practice in the region, advising on copyright and brands, heavyweight IP litigation, including patent litigation, commercial IP and licensing and anti-counterfeiting.
Soon to be joining with Lynne are associates Ashleigh Fehrenbach and Rochelle Schuenker, also from Minter Ellison.
Shane Barber, Managing Partner of Bird & Bird Australia, says: "Lynne's appointment marks the next stage of growth for our significant Australian IP team. We are excited to continue to broaden our capabilities in an area for which Bird & Bird is internationally regarded. Lynne will be a valuable asset for our team."
Matthew Laight, Head of IP Asia Pacific at Bird & Bird, says: "I'm excited to welcome Lynne as a member of both our Asia Pacific and international IP practices. Lynne's extensive experience in intellectual property law across multiple sectors will complement Bird & Bird's wider APAC IP team. She has advised on significant cases for high profile clients. We very much look forward to working with her."
Lynne's appointment is part of an Asia Pacific wide push to strengthen the team's IP capabilities. This follows the recent appointment of IP partner Anan Sivananthan in Singapore in February.
