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Herbert Smith Freehills’ leading intellectual property practice has been awarded Australian Contentious Firm of the Year at the Managing Intellectual Property Awards.
Held last week in London, the awards recognise outstanding firms in the Asia Pacific, Europe and Latin America over 2015.
Herbert Smith Freehills IP litigation head for Australia, Rebekah Gay, said the team was thrilled to receive the prestigious honour.
“This award is a great achievement for the team and recognition of the firm’s leading IP and patent practice in Australia. In recent years, we have led complex, ground-breaking litigation in major IP disputes across multiple sectors and acted in more patent litigation matters in the Federal Court than any other law firm,” Ms Gay said.
These cases include acting for Apple in its dispute with Samsung over tablet and smartphone technology, the largest piece of patent litigation in Australia, and successfully acting for Gilead in litigation relating to its blockbuster hepatitis C treatment.
The Australian IP team also includes commercial IP specialists who focus on IP aspects of major commercial transactions such as mergers and acquisitions, know-how transfer agreements and joint ownership structures.
“As part of our IP team, we also have one of the largest dedicated trade mark teams in Australia who provide portfolio management services to a large range of clients with leading brands,” Ms Gay said.
“Another advantage for our clients is the impressive breadth of talent among our partners and senior lawyers. Many in our team also hold scientific qualifications and industry expertise which means clients can benefit from both legal and technical expertise.”
Herbert Smith Freehills’ Regional Managing Partner, Asia & Australia, Sue Gilchrist said the award was a pleasing recognition of the IP team’s hard work and dedication to its clients and the firm.
The IP lawyer and former IP litigation head for Australia said the award cemented the firm’s position as the go-to experts for IP matters.
“A key advantage of our practice is our ability to utilise Herbert Smith Freehills’ global network to successfully manage and coordinate complex, multi-jurisdictional matters,” Ms Gilchrist said.