Our Team

James Skel­ton

Partner
Com­mer­cial, Com­mer­cial Finance, Cor­po­rate, IP & Technology, Cyber, Fran­chis­ing

As a mem­ber of Swaab’s cor­po­rate, com­mer­cial and intel­lec­tu­al prop­er­ty prac­tice I am pas­sion­ate about help­ing my clients achieve their goals. My focus is on busi­ness advice, cor­po­rate and com­mer­cial trans­ac­tions, com­mer­cial­i­sa­tion of intel­lec­tu­al prop­er­ty rights, and brand pro­tec­tion strategies.

Hav­ing com­plet­ed legal sec­ond­ments to Ram­say Health Care and the Lib­er­al Par­ty of Aus­tralia (NSW), I pro­vide guid­ance and advice that is well-con­sid­ered and commercial. 

I was a Coun­cil­lor (direc­tor) of the Law Soci­ety of NSW in 2021 – 2022, the state’s peak pro­fes­sion­al body rep­re­sent­ing over 35,000 mem­bers, hav­ing pre­vi­ous­ly held anoth­er non-exec­u­­tive direc­tor­ship with the Auro­ra Group, Ruby Foun­da­tion Lim­it­ed, a NSW based char­i­ty, for five years. 

I have indus­try focus­es in the phar­ma­cy, health care, lux­u­ry goods, FMCG and tech­nol­o­gy spaces, and act for a num­ber of multi­na­tion­al com­pa­nies look­ing to expand into Aus­tralia, as well as a num­ber of local SME and ASX list­ed com­pa­nies look­ing to grow both here and overseas. 

I was pre­vi­ous­ly named ​“Aus­tralian Young Lawyer of the Year” by the Law Coun­cil of Aus­tralia for not only my tech­ni­cal legal abil­i­ty but also my con­tri­bu­tions to the legal pro­fes­sion in the areas of well­be­ing, diver­si­ty, and inclusion. 

I have also won a ​“30 Under 30” Award for com­mer­cial law, hav­ing also been a final­ist for a num­ber of oth­er awards across Aus­trala­sia since 2015, includ­ing ​“Young Pri­vate Prac­tice Lawyer of the Year” and ​“Young Gun of the Year”.

Exper­tise

  • IP & Technology
  • Com­mer­cial
  • Cor­po­rate
  • Cyber Law
  • Fran­chis­ing

Practice & Industry Sectors

  • Intellectual Property
  • Technology Law
  • Data Protection & Security
  • Manufacturing & industrials
  • Healthcare and Life Sciences

Experience

  • Drafting, prosecuting and advising on trade mark and cer­ti­fi­ca­tion mark applications in Australia and internationally, and advising on brand protection strategies for domestic and multinational clients including managing trade mark portfolios.
  • Negotiating, advising on and conducting IP infringement actions.
  • Drafting IP licence and assignment documents.
  • Drafting and advising on software licences, SAAS agreements and other technology arrangements.
  • Drafting and advising on sponsorship agreements, con­fi­den­tial­i­ty agreements, service agreements and other commercial agreements.
  • Drafting and negotiating group procurement agreements and terms of trade.
  • Conducting all aspects of share sale and business sale transactions.
  • Providing corporate sec­re­tar­i­al assistance and advice.
  • Drafting and advising on shareholder agreements and other corporate structure documents.
  • Drafting privacy policies and advising on privacy and data protection matters.

Roles memberships and education

  • Juris Doctor, Law, University of New South Wales, 2012
  • International Studies (Global), University of NSW, 2009
  • Internationale Beziehungen, Politik und Gesellschaft, Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn, Germany, 2009
  • Councillor (Director) – The Law Society of NSW (2021-22)
  • Executive Councillor – NSW Young Lawyers
  • Member – Intellectual Property Society of Australia & New Zealand (IPSANZ)
  • Secretary – Emerging Leaders Advisory Board, Meritas Law Firms Worldwide
  • Member – Commercialisation of Brands Committee, International Trademark Association (INTA)

Publications

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In the News

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