Paul Johns, former principal at AJ Park, joined boutique firm Pearce IP as its litigation head in New Zealand in May.
Johns previously headed the litigation teams at AJ Park, New Zealand’s largest specialist intellectual property firm, and Baldwins, which was the second biggest before it was acquired by AJ Park in 2020.
Johns is also Pearce IP’s first hire in New Zealand.
Managing IP sat down with Johns about how his move from a big firm to a smaller boutique has affected his practice and day-to-day work.
Johns notes that there are obvious distinctions between his new role and his former one because of the difference in the size of the firms.
“AJ Park was the largest firm in the country, so I had quite a large team as the head of litigation, and it had a more leveraged way of working.
Pearce IP, being a smaller boutique, is a bit more focused on the senior end, he notes, adding: “A team put together for any project will be very senior. Overall, I’m doing the same work but in quite a different environment.”
Johns says while he liked being on the management side at his former firms, where he could delegate work to other senior staff whenever required, he’s also enjoying playing a more active role in servicing clients at Pearce IP.
“I was looking for a new challenge, and Pearce IP ticked quite a few boxes for me.”
Trans-Tasman goals
Johns says one of the reasons he took up the opportunity to head the IP litigation team at Pearce IP was that the role gave him a chance to work more closely with his Australian colleagues and on Australian issues.
“I've been admitted to practise in Australia some time ago but never really exercised that right. It’s pretty exciting that I now have the chance to do that.”
Pearce IP’s New Zealand business is still more of a startup, he notes. It means that besides client work, he’s also occupied with sorting out regulatory issues for the office and onboarding as many lawyers qualified in both Australia and New Zealand as possible.
“I’m already qualified in both countries and so is our founder. We also have some other Australian solicitors who are going through the process of getting qualified in New Zealand.
“We have a genuine trans-Tasman legal capacity that I don't think any other IP firm has. Some firms might have people on each side of the Tasman, but they don't really have people who do both – and that's what we're going to have.”
Pearce IP’s ambitions to become a truly trans-Tasman firm by setting up the New Zealand office and hiring Johns have started to pay off.
The firm has already started receiving queries and work in which the initial focus was on Australia but where the clients also entrusted the firm to handle New Zealand issues in parallel.
It has also started receiving instructions from clients in New Zealand who are facing similar issues in both countries and looking for one firm to advise them.
“The work is flowing both ways already, which is great,” says Johns.
Firm focus
While Pearce IP's New Zealand office was set up to focus on patents, particularly in the life sciences, Johns is drawing from his former experiences to secure work from other fields as well.
“I've got experience outside the life sciences area, and I tend to carry on with that, but the speciality, focus and the selling point will be life sciences,” he says.
However, the New Zealand office may have less pharma focus than its Australian counterpart.
Johns notes that the pharma industry in New Zealand is much smaller than Australia’s for many reasons, including differences in the size of the economies and the way health medicines are publicly funded in New Zealand.
“Effectively, unless you get that public funding, you won't enter the market because of the size of the economy. There's just simply less pharmaceutical work around,” he says.
New Zealand, instead, has a much stronger med-tech sector, he notes.
“There'll be some good chances to secure potential clients in that space,” he predicts.
Long view
It's clear that the new role has provided Johns with some exciting opportunities, but he advises other lawyers contemplating similar moves to be very deliberate about changing careers.
“Make sure that where you're going will be an improvement all around. Don't just move for the money, better working conditions, or a nicer office – think about how the move will impact your whole life.”
He says he is a great believer in “working to live rather than living to work”, adding: “So I had to think quite carefully about not having daily face-to-face contact with colleagues and working at home full time to make sure that's going to work for me.”
He also urges lawyers to think about their long-term career plans to assess whether a new opportunity will help with those.
“The opportunity to join an IP boutique was not something that was on my long-term plan, but when it came up, I thought about it and had a long conversation with the founder before I decided to take up the role.
“So think through everything carefully, and don’t just jump ship on a whim.”
