James & Wells partners Ian Finch and Kate Wilson raked in impressive accolades in the New Zealand’s IP scene as the country’s leading practitioners in New Zealand.

Ian, who heads the firm’s litigation team, was ranked in the Chambers-Asia Pacific 2015 guide for intellectual property. Judges noted that Ian “is a highly regarded patent attorney and experienced litigator who acts for blue-chip clients on a range of contentious and non-contentious IP issues.”

He was also ranked in the latest edition of Best Lawyers in New Zealand in the practice area of intellectual property law, and by the Corporate LiveWire Global Awards for ‘Business Strategy Firm in New Zealand’.

(Ian Finch, left, Kate Wilson: Picture owned by James & Wells)

Only last month, Ian featured in the World Trade Mark Review 1000 – The World’s Leading Trade Mark Professionals, with judges noting he is “a superstar who manages to do great work across all areas of trademark law”.

Kate, managing partner of the firm, was named for the second year in the Managing Intellectual Property IP Stars handbook as an ‘expert of experts’ within the field of IP law in New Zealand.

James & Wells secured a ranking on the Managing Intellectual Property IP Stars guide for ‘patent contentious’, ‘patent prosecution’, as well as ‘trade mark/copyright contentious’ and ‘trade mark prosecution’. The guide is based on peer recommendations and surveys that are conducted across the respective jurisdiction which gives it great credibility.

Rounding off a successful start to the year, the firm was awarded ‘Best Patents Team’ in the Asia Pacific region by the 2015 Offshore Excellence Awards.