Olsen exit loses FFW 15-strong team, 80 clients

Former Field Fisher Waterhouse (FFW) trademark and brand protection head John Olsen is taking his entire team of 15 to Edwards Angell Palmer & Dodge (EAPD), including six associates, three paralegals and six administrative staff.

As The Lawyer reported last week (9 March), Olsen is leaving FFW following the settlement of his grievance claim against the firm.

FFW normally exercises a strict two-year restrictive covenant ;on ;former ­partners, which applies to any client that has instr-ucted the firm in the 12
months before the partner’s ­departure.

However, Olsen is understood to be taking up to 80 clients with him, including Elizabeth Arden, Tumi and MasterCard.

At FFW Olsen regularly billed between £3m and £5m a year. He will become co-head of EAPD’s trademark and brand protection practice along with New York-based Maria Scungio.

EAPD London managing partner Laurence Harris said: “In the last few months we’ve got to know John well. He’s a terrific guy who’s going to add an enormous amount to what we do here.”

Olsen is EAPD’s fourth senior IP hire in the space of a year.

EAPD is one of the few firms to operate complementary patent-filing and prosecution practices. In March 2008 it recruited Rajita Sharma from Reed Smith, and later it took on three D Young & Co senior patent attorneys – Candi Soames, John Lloyd and Tony Maschio.