We're delighted to announce the appointment of two new partners to the firm - Kate McHaffie and Joe Seisdedos.
Kate McHaffie is one of our intellectual property litigation specialists, and has been with AJ Park since 1998. She has a particular interest in pharmaceutical inventions and has acted on patent cases for a number of large international corporations such as GlaxoSmithKline, AstraZeneca, and Sanofi. Kate also has considerable experience in the manufacturing and telecommunications industries.
Kate will continue to be based in our Wellington office, where she heads the litigation team.
Joe Seisdedos has joined our Sydney office as partner, and will head our growing patent practice in Australia.
Joe has over 15 years' experience as a patent attorney. He has extensive expertise in the areas of information technology, medical technologies, and business methods and a background in nuclear physics, detector development, and complex system simulation.
Managing partner Damian Broadley, said 'We're very excited to announce these appointments. Kate and Joe both blend strong leadership skills with deep technical expertise in intellectual property, and we're delighted to have them join the partnership'.
Chief executive Pete Boyle, said 'Bringing Kate and Joe on board as partners signals the firm's commitment to strengthening our full service capability across New Zealand and Australia. Kate's expertise in all aspects of intellectual property litigation is highly regarded by clients and peers alike, and we're thrilled to have Joe join the team in Sydney where he'll be focussing on our growing patent practice in Australia. The staff of AJ Park and I congratulate them both.'
Both appointments are effective 1 October 2014.