Carolyn, a senior partner of the firm, is a registered trans-Tasman patent attorney and trade mark attorney. She holds a BSc(Hons); a PhD in Inorganic Chemistry; a GDipIPLaw from the University of Melbourne; a Masters Degree in Biotechnology & Business from the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology; and a Dip. in Law from the New South Wales Legal Practitioners’ Admission Board. She is admitted to practice as a commercial lawyer by the Supreme Court of Victoria.

Carolyn’s doctoral thesis related to synthetic and spectroscopic methods, including IR spectroscopy, NMR spectroscopy and X-ray crystallography to characterise inorganic structures. Following a post-doctoral position in BHP’s Melbourne research laboratories where she worked on a coal-to-oil conversion project, she moved to ICI Australia’s research group, where she conducted research into areas as diverse as zirconia fluoride glass manufacture for communications cables and explosives formulation. Carolyn then entered the intellectual property law profession transferring to ICI Australia’s Corporate Advisory Group. Here, she gained valuable portfolio management experience in relation to IP protection for new products, from their creation right through to their commercial release. She also gained litigation experience in this role in defending ICI’s IP Assets.

Carolyn then transferred into private patent attorney practice where she worked for two major general law firms, working principally in IP as it related to the pharmaceutical industry. Her practice currently specialises in drafting, prosecution and litigation of chemical, biochemical and pharmaceutical patents before IP Australia and IPONZ. Carolyn has also provided numerous validity and infringement opinions on chemical and pharmaceutical patent matters. She also practices in the fields of trade marks and designs.

She is a Fellow of the Institute of Patent & Trade Mark Attorneys of Australia and a member of the Law Institute of Victoria, a member of AIPLA, a member of the Royal Australian Chemical Institute and a Chartered Chemist.