Our culture and ethos is dedicated to ensuring that clever thinking gets the recognition it deserves.
We are a passionate bunch to work alongside. Our team of intellectual property experts include scientists, engineers, accountants, business strategists, lawyers, and commercialisation specialists dedicated to championing innovation, not just locally, but on a global scale.
Our vision is to be the most sought-after intellectual property firm across Australia & New Zealand.
A bit about us
Our reason for being is to support innovative businesses – helping them grow locally and internationally.
With 75% of our clients based in Australasia, we know how to obtain and enforce effective IP rights in Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific Islands.
Starting out with just one patent attorney in 1979, James & Wells has since grown to become one of Australasia’s largest independent intellectual property firms.
We are experts in all aspects of intellectual property. We go the extra mile to provide clients with connections to the right people, funding and investment opportunities, and offer strategic business advice. We facilitate valuable networking events and educate on the use of intellectual property to grow business.
We have a large and formidable intellectual property litigation team. We employ leading experts in all major technical fields and are the go-to firm for doing business in Asia. We are a top ranked patent and trade mark filer and have won many prestigious international awards.
We share our comprehensive knowledge of intellectual property laws by writing and updating authoritative legal texts (used by law schools and other lawyers) and producing numerous learned articles.
Industry recognition
Keen to join us
We are a specialist intellectual property firm with a fresh take on workplace culture and an ethos dedicated to championing innovation.
If you are passionate about success and ready to take on a challenge, feel free to apply for one of our jobs below or register your interest and we'll keep you posted as new opportunities become available.
Working with us
To add real value it is important we learn about your business and understand its needs. Here you will find information and resources to help get you started.
Enquiry Meeting Information
Our ‘enquiry meeting information sheet’ is designed to make the getting-to-know-you stage of our relationship easier from the start. Take a look and see what our first meeting is about and what we need from you to really add value.
Download our information sheetTerms of Engagement
Our ‘terms of engagement’ defines how we will work together. Getting these formalities out of the way at the very start means we are free to concentrate on your business needs. This gives you confidence that we have good procedures that govern the way we work together. So you should read it.
Read our terms of engagementAccount Application
Before we can indulge in the interesting stuff (finding out about your innovation), we have to do some business housekeeping. We need to make sure we have your correct details on our ‘account application form’ and that we are working with the right parties. Just fill out the form and send it back to us.
Submit account application formPayment Procedure
Finally, it's got to be done. Let’s dot the I’s and cross the T’s and hopefully our payment procedures make it easy.
Download copy of our payment proceduresBusiness and community partners
Here's just some of the organisations we support through partnerships, memberships, sponsorships and pro bono work.
Partnership structure
James & Wells is the trading style of two separate partnerships, James & Wells Patent & Trade Mark Attorneys and James & Wells Lawyers. A detailed breakdown of the respective partnerships is as follows:
James & Wells Patent and Trade Mark Attorneys
James & Wells Lawyers
Disclaimer
It has been necessary for us to adopt this dual partnership structure in order to comply with the requirements of the Lawyers & Conveyancers Act 2006 (NZ) and the Patents Acts 2013 (NZ), each of which reserves particular areas of work for lawyers and registered patent attorneys in New Zealand.
The partners of James & Wells Patent & Trade Mark Attorneys are all registered patent attorneys and subject to the Code of Conduct administered by the Trans-Tasman Intellectual Property Attorneys Board (of which Ian Finch is also currently a member). Similarly, the partners of James & Wells Lawyers are all New Zealand Lawyers and, therefore, subject to the ethical constraints and disciplinary procedures of the New Zealand Law Society. Some of our partners are both registered patent attorneys and lawyers and are a partner in both practices.
Generally speaking, all work associated with a patent will be conducted, or supervised, by a registered patent attorney. All work, generally speaking, related to an infringement of your rights, legal proceedings etc, will be conducted, or supervised, by a lawyer. Any other work is likely to be conducted, or supervised, by a person who is either a registered patent attorney, a registered Australian trade mark attorney, or a lawyer.
For your security, money received from you or on your behalf for matters relating to reserved areas of work in New Zealand, other than in payment of invoices which we have already issued, will be held in a trust account operated by James & Wells Lawyers.
If you are in any doubt as to whether the person you are dealing with is a lawyer, a registered Australian trade mark attorney, or a registered patent attorney, please feel free to clarify this with them, their supervising partner, or by accessing their qualifications via the "Our team" section of this website.