Bird & Bird has hired Richard Vary as partner in its IP department in London. Vary joins this award-winning department having spent over 10 years at Nokia, where he was Head of IP Litigation. He is known in the IP community for his thought leadership on multi-jurisdictional patent litigation, including arbitration, and was listed as a Corporate IP Star in Managing Intellectual Property IP Stars (2016). Vary will be working with other Patent Stars such as Jane Mutimear, Neil Jenkins and Morag Macdonald. His in-house experience will indeed strengthen the firm’s offering in the mobile telecoms space. 

Stephen Reese has today joined Clifford Chance as partner in its corporate department in London. Reese was previously co-chair of the life sciences practice at Olswang and advises on patent and trade mark matters, including transactions. Clifford Chance says Reese will also work closely with Head of IP Vanessa Marsland.

Baker Botts has further strengthened its IP team with the appointment of Lisa Kattan as partner in its Washington DC office. This news follows the hire of patent litigators Wayne Stacy and Sarah Guske from Cooley in August. Kattan was formerly an investigative attorney with the US International Trade Commission (Office of Unfair Import Investigations) and prior to that worked in private practice as a patent litigator. Her sectoral litigation experience ranges from medical devices to IT/telecoms. Kattan is also a registered patent attorney.

Redd Solicitors

Redd Solicitors has promoted two senior associates John Colbourn and Michael Browne to associate director and partner respectively. Colbourn is a soft IP practitioner and a member of the Marques GI (Geographical Indications) team while Browne advises on IP enforcement and exploitation.

After just over a decade at Highgrove Office Park, top-tier South African IP firm Spoor & Fisher has relocated to 11 Byls Bridge Boulevard, Building No. 14, Highveld Ext 73, Centurion, Pretoria, 0157. Its Pretoria postal address, telephone and fax numbers remain unchanged. The firm also has two additional offices in South Africa plus one in Jersey, Channel Islands.