We are delighted to announce our latest promotions, which came into effect from 1 January 2021.
Congratulations to Dr Hannah French and Pritesh Lohani who have been promoted to senior associate, Ben Williams and Sharon Zhu who have been promoted to associate, and Lucette Kuhn who has been promoted to a solicitor.
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Dr Hannah French, Senior Associate Hannah has been with AJ Park for nine years. With particular expertise in molecular and cellular biology, immunology and biochemistry, she specialises in all areas of patent law for biotechnology and life sciences innovations. Her clients range from universities and multinationals through to smaller biotechnology companies, operating in the pharmaceutical, biotechnology, human and animal health, and food technology spaces. Hannah loves the exposure her role gives her to the interesting and innovative science AJ Park’s clients are involved in. She relishes the opportunity to work with highly creative innovators to help them protect their cutting-edge technologies early in their development, and realise the full potential of their inventions. Approachable, practical and with a strong attention to detail, Hannah aims to make the often complex patenting process as straightforward as possible. With her combination of science knowledge, research experience and patent law expertise, she’s able to understand her clients’ innovations and obtain the best possible protection for them. |
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Pritesh Lohani, Senior Associate Pritesh joined AJ Park in early 2018 and is a valuable member of AJ Park’s Auckland engineering/IT team. His main areas of expertise include drafting and prosecution of patents in the fields of mechanical engineering, electronics, robotics, business methods, IT, software, fintech and AI technologies. Pritesh’s clients range from individuals and SMEs to universities and large multi-national corporates. Most are based in New Zealand, Australia, Hong Kong and mainland China. Friendly, professional and approachable, Pritesh enjoys the variety of his role and the opportunity to work with clients of all sizes. |
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Ben works with a range of clients to ensure protection of their brands, as well as helping them to secure trade mark registrations. He also assists clients with trade mark clearance searches, prosecution, opposition, revocation and invalidity proceedings. Ben has an extensive knowledge of protecting trade marks in overseas jurisdictions and provides his clients with strategic portfolio advice. Before joining Baldwins (now AJ Park), Ben spent four years specialising in trade marks in the United Kingdom and acted for clients in the sporting, fashion, academic and engineering sectors. |
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Sharon joined AJ Park’s Auckland engineering and IT patent team in 2016. Methodical, efficient and thorough, Sharon combines her expertise in law and engineering to help clients protect their innovations and bring their ideas to life. Sharon has completed conjoint honours degrees at the University of Auckland—a law degree and an engineering degree specialising in biomedical engineering. An interest in these areas naturally led her to intellectual property law, a profession that bridges these fields. |
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A solicitor in AJ Park’s litigation and dispute resolution team, Lucette assists with contentious trade mark and copyright matters. She has two law degrees – a B Iuris and LLB from the University of the Free State in South Africa. After graduating, Lucette worked in the insurance industry for a number of years before joining the office of the Director of Public Prosecutions in South Africa as a prosecutor. She joined the New Zealand Police’s Prosecutions Service in 2010 and resumed her career as a criminal litigator after being admitted to the New Zealand Bar in 2012. The decision to join AJ Park came after she took a break from her prosecuting role to be more involved with creative ideas, while still utilising a wealth of litigation experience. |
AJ Park’s managing director, Dr Andrea Dickens, said ‘Hannah, Pritesh, Ben, Sharon and Lucette have bright futures ahead and we are thrilled to recognise their efforts and contribution to the firm with these promotions’.
