Dentons has launched an IP practice in Hong Kong with the hire of a trio of senior lawyers from Baker McKenzie.
The incoming team includes Loke-Khoon Tan, Dominic Edmondson and Maria Joannides Smith, who together bring decades of experience in IP, data privacy, technology and cybersecurity.
Dentons’ global chief executive, Kate Barton, said the team’s arrival “marks a pivotal moment for our Hong Kong team, as we continue to grow and meet our clients’ needs in the IP and technology space”.
Tan joins Dentons as a partner and head of the Hong Kong IP and technology practice, having led the regional IP and technology practice and consumer goods and retail industry practice at Bakers for 20 years. His practice focuses on the structuring and protection of IP rights as well as anti-counterfeiting strategies, with his work increasingly spanning emerging areas such as internet and social media, AI and technology law.
Edmondson has joined the firm as a senior consultant after nearly a decade at Baker McKenzie. He advises primarily on complex global data privacy and data protection, AI, information technology transactions, cybersecurity, e-commerce and telecommunications matters. He also has experience in both contentious and non-contentious IP matters in Greater China and across Asia.
Joannides Smith joins Dentons as a partner and head of the Hong Kong trademark practice. She advises on contentious, non-contentious and commercial IP matters, with a particular focus on trademarks and copyright.
With the new arrivals, Dentons now has 14 partners in Hong Kong, according to its website. They include project development and finance partner Dominic Gregory, who joined last August, having earlier practised at Ashurst.
The hires also follow Dentons’ Hong Kong office rekindling its relationship with Beijing-based Dacheng Law Offices last December, two years after the firms severed formal ties, citing concerns over Chinese regulations.
Globally, the firm’s IP and technology practice boasts 530 lawyers, including nearly 250 partners. The practice has also seen exits recently, with an 18-strong patent team led by renowned patent lawyer Justin Hill exiting Dentons’ London office last year to join Crowell & Moring.
A Baker McKenzie spokesperson commented: “We can confirm Loke-Khoon Tan and Maria Joannides Smith have retired from the firm, and Dominic Edmondson has left Baker McKenzie. We thank them for their contributions.”
They added that the firm has more than 300 IP lawyers globally, with the top-ranking Asia Pacific practice noted for the strength of its cross-border capabilities.
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