What is your area of practice and how long have you been practising?
I advise and represent clients in relation to all aspects of brand protection and enforcement, including copyright, trade mark and designs law, protection of confidential information, domain name disputes, passing off and consumer law. I also assist clients in conducting advertising, website and product labelling reviews, and product recalls.
I commenced my legal career with a large, commercial practice, where I rotated through a number of groups gaining exposure to general commercial transactions, due diligence, conveyancing and insolvency. However, intellectual property was always my area of interest. I was admitted to practice in 2003 and have been practising in the field of intellectual property law ever since.
What is it that ATTRACTS you to Intellectual Property?
It’s relevance and application to all fields and industries – from wine and fashion, to pharmaceuticals, to software and mining – which allows me to engage with a broad spectrum of clients. I also enjoy seeing how the Courts are seeking to apply and adapt existing legal principles to emerging technologies and new playing fields.
What would you say is your career highlight to date?
As a first year lawyer, reading a Supreme Court judgment in which the judge cited with approval (and in favour of our client) a case I had researched and included in our final submissions. It was also the first case in Australia to deliver a decision on the scope of a university professor’s duty to invent, so that was quite exciting.
More recently, seeing an Australian television drama series that I assisted to review in pre-production stages receive glowing reviews (although my input was purely legal, and not in any way creative!).
Do you have an embarrassing career moment you’d rather forget?
Injuring myself in the middle of a Federal Court trial, when lifting a box full of Court folders – and needing to attend weekly physio sessions for the remainder of the trial.
When you’re not working, what do you do for fun?
Food – I enjoy eating it, growing it, cooking and experimenting with it, reading about it, talking about it, photographing it and travelling to find it. I was actually mistaken for a food blogger when dining out by myself recently.
What’s one thing about you that most people would find surprising?
I am an avid collector of vintage suitcases.
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