New management committee for Adams & Adams
17/05/2010

Adams & Adams has elected its management committee for 2010.

The firm’s chairman Chris Job is stepping down after nine years at the helm.Patent attorney Dario Tanziani has been elected firm chairman for 2010. Dario has been a partner in the firm since 1989 and chairman of its patent department for three years. He specialises in patents and registered designs. His particular field of expertise is high court litigation in these areas, particularly in the pharmaceutical area, and he has represented many Fortune 500 companies in the enforcement of their patents in South Africa.

Dario has been listed in the International Who’s Who of Life Sciences Lawyers, the International Who’s Who of Business Lawyers and the Managing Intellectual Property Patent Expert Guide.

Other members include patent attorney Colin Mackenzie, who has already served a term as patent department chair. He has been elected co-chair of the Patent Department and its representative on the management committee while the other co-chair Gavin Kotzé focuses on departmental operational issues. They both specialise in drafting, filing and prosecuting to grant of patents and industrial designs both locally and abroad. Colin is a fellow and council member of the SA Institute of Intellectual Property Law. He is also a member of the American Intellectual Property Law Association, the International Federation of Industrial Property Attorneys and the International Federation of Intellectual Property.

Newcomers to the committee are trade mark attorneys Kelly Thompson and Nolo Khechane who have been elected co-chairs of the Trademark Department.

Kelly specialises in trade mark, passing-off, copyright and domain name litigation, advertising law and close corporation and company name objections. She is a fellow of the South African Institute of Intellectual Property Law and the convenor of its Copyright Law committee. Kelly is also a member of the Businesswomen’s Association.

Nolo specialises in trade mark filings, searches and prosecution as well as portfolio management.

Grégor Wolter, who has been on the committee for three years, has been re-elected chair of the Commercial, Property and Litigation Department. He specialises in contractual and commercial law litigation, including insolvency, insurance and construction, High Court litigation for contractual, delictual and enrichment claims, regulatory and administrative law, third party claims and personal injury claims.

Nishi Chetty has been re-elected as the branch office chair. She specialises in trade mark filings, searches and prosecution, recordals of trade marks, assignments and registered users. She is also a specialist in litigation relating to trade marks, copyright, passing-off, unlawful competition, counterfeit goods, domain name disputes, close corporation and company name objections.

Stuart Boyd is a member of the committee as the chief operating officer, and has served on the committee for 18 months. He is a chartered accountant and specialises in financial, general business, business process and information technology management. Stuart is a member of the South African Institute of Chartered Accountants.


















Front row: Kelly Thompson and Nishi Chetty

Back row: Nolo Khechane; Colin Mackenzie; Grégor Wolter; Dario Tanziani and Stuart Boyd