The promotions come as the firm celebrates 10 years of operating in Australia
Bird & Bird has promoted Shehana Wijesena and Rebecca Currey as its newest partners in Australia.
The IP specialists are both based in Sydney. They stepped into their new roles on 1 May.
Wijesena is an expert in IP strategies, exploitation and enforcement. She has tackled trade marks, licensing arrangements, assignment and broader commercialisation agreements, trade mark portfolios, and trade mark protection and prosecution. Moreover, she has provided guidance on copyright exploitation, design registration prosecution and IP due diligence.
Currey concentrates on patent law issues, especially patent litigation. She has represented clients in the pharmaceutical, mining, telecommunications and banking industries. She has worked on licencing and freedom to operate opinions, as well as contentious trade mark issues.
Bird & Bird also promoted four lawyers to senior associate:
- Sanya Bhatnagar, IP
- Olivia Carns, corporate
- Patrick Cordwell, competition/communications regulation
- Henry Wrench, dispute resolution
The elevations come as Bird & Bird celebrates 10 years of operating in Australia.
"In Bird & Bird’s tenth anniversary year in Australia, we’re particularly excited to be making these promotions to partner and senior associates from our ranks. Shehana and Rebecca are two very talented female intellectual property lawyers, who have been with Bird & Bird since its entry into the Australian market", said Shane Barber, head of country Australia.
He added that the promotions "highlight the importance of Australia in the international intellectual property arena".
In total, Bird & Bird welcomed 13 partners, 3 senior counsel, 24 counsel, 1 legal director, and 1 of counsel across its global offices.
