The appointment comes after four hires last month, including a partner from a top firm
HopgoodGanim Lawyers is continuing its growth with the appointment of senior patent attorney Justin Sweetman.
Sweetman moves from Cullens Patent and Trade Mark Attorneys, where he was the head of the Gold Coast office. He joins Jonathan Lewis, who is director of patents at HopgoodGanim and is also a Cullens alumnus.
The appointment comes after the firm brought in four lawyers last month in Brisbane and Perth, including a senior partner from MinterEllison. In January, the firm added another four lawyers, including a special counsel, in Brisbane.
Sweetman, who is based in the firm’s Brisbane office, is a registered patent and trademark attorney in both Australia and New Zealand. In addition to Cullens, he was also a patent attorney at CreateIP and James & Wells IP in Auckland. He has also served on the advisory board of Auckland University of Technology’s Business Innovation Centre.
Sweetman has a PhD in plant biotechnology from the University of Leicester, a master’s degree in commercialisation and entrepreneurship from the University of Auckland, and a bachelor of science in biochemistry and molecular biology from the University of Manchester. He was a research assistant at the University of Cambridge, as well as a research scientist at Syngenta in the UK, a project leader at CropDesign - BASF in Belgium, and a staff scientist at AgriGenesis in New Zealand.
