Managing director Steve Mitchell on helping AJ Park celebrate 135 years, his priorities for the firm

135 years is a significant milestone and very rare for companies with a New Zealand heritage. We want to recognise the tremendous legacy of those who have been part of AJ Park’s 135 year journey, including current and previous staff, and of course our wonderful clients over that period. We’re celebrating at several international conferences this year, as well as hosting local client events across New Zealand later in 2026.  

What are your top three priorities for AJ Park?

Over the past two months, I have had the opportunity to connect with our teams across the business, local clients and attend various industry conferences. The three priorities that have emerged are:

1. Be the employer of choice in our sector – as the largest IP firm and given the breadth of our client base, we need to continue to attract and develop the very best people. I see this being done through both the legal/subject expertise of our team, and also though clear alignment with AJ Park’s values. Great people doing the right things.
2. Grow across each of our practice groups. We want to build strength across engineering/ICT, chembio, trade marks, and our IP litigation practices.
3. Ensure we’re operationally efficient by leveraging technology to reduce the administrative burden of overly manual processes.

Which initiative are you most eager to jump on?

Our business is centred around ‘knowledge’, so the value-driver for our clients is the thinking that our team can apply to a client’s IP strategy and activity. I believe that AI can help us free up our attorneys’ time to better do that critical and strategic thinking and execution.

I’m particularly interested in implementing ‘back-office’ AI tools that can enhance our client-focused efforts. Done well, this will lead to a better client experience and more enjoyable work for our team.

What is your vision for AJ Park for the next coming years, and how are you working to achieve that?

I want us to be the ‘front of mind’ IP partner for New Zealand, Australia, and the Pacific Islands. We have a great story, and the 135 year anniversary celebrations provide a nice moment to tell that story to our clients, to domestic business people, and to companies and agents off-shore. This is a year of looking outwards for the senior team at AJ Park and sharing our story as much as we can.