National firm nabs senior associate from rival IP specialist

The lawyer, who holds a doctorate in biotechnology, spent nearly two dozen years with the rival firm

National firm nabs senior associate from rival IP specialist
James & Wells has appointed John Mansell as a senior associate in the firm’s food and beverage and life-science innovation teams.

Mansell, a specialist in the biotechnology, food technologies, genomics, and metabolomics and proteomics fields, joins the national intellectual property specialist firm from AJ Park, where he spent nearly two dozen years.

He has a doctorate in molecular biology from the University of Otago. He finished his LLB from the University of Auckland and spent two years as a postdoctoral research fellow at Harvard Medical School.

Mansell, a qualified lawyer and registered patent attorney in New Zealand and Australia, will be based in Auckland. He was also most recently a senior associate at his former firm.

James & Wells said it is experiencing significant growth, which is reflected in the raft of new talent it has recently hired.

Wing Seow was recently been appointed as a patent attorney in the firm’s Christchurch office. Other recent appointments include technical advisers Hazell Fernandez in Auckland and Samuel Parkinson in Hamilton.

Mansells appointment brings the firm’s senior associate count to six. James & Wells has offices in Auckland, Christchurch, Hamilton, and Tauranga.


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