The Bench Continues Hiring Spree with the Signing of IP Guru Peter Hansen

The Bench FZE today announced it has welcomed Peter Hansen to its team of legal consultants.

Peter has over 20 years’ experience across a range of intellectual property areas (IP) including IP dispute resolution, litigation and enforcement, IP issues in commercial transactions including licensing and assignments, brand protection strategies, IP issues in the creation and exploitation of literary and artistic works, internet related disputes and trade secrets.

Prior to joining The Bench, Peter was Head of IP, Middle East at Hogan Lovells, Managing Partner (and one of the founders) of Cedar White Bradley and Senior Consultant at Rouse, all based in Dubai. Before moving to the Middle East in 2001, he was a partner of the law firm Freehills, Sydney (now Herbert Smith Freehills). Peter literally wrote the book on IP Law in the United Arab Emirates (IP Law and Practice of the UAE – Oxford University Press, 2009).

Peter commented, “I am very pleased to be joining such an esteemed line up of legal practitioners on The Bench. As I see it, the model of delivering legal services represented by The Bench is the way of the future - it is committed to meeting the business needs of clients by providing top quality legal advice and support and at the same time enhancing the wellbeing of its lawyers through flexible working arrangements.”

Joby Beretta, Director of The Bench said, “

Peter stands out from the majority of other western trained IP specialists in the UAE due to his ability to directly consult the original Arabic laws and regulations. Peter’s skillset boosts The Bench’s Arabic speaking capability, which was one of our strategic goals this year”.

The Bench is recognised by Legal 500 as a leading IP firm in the UAE commenting “‘Client-focused, efficient and unstuffy’, The Bench scores highly for its ‘genuinely international understanding of IP issues’”. Chambers & Partners IP UAE also notes that The Bench’s IP lawyers are complimented by clients for their “informal style with a flexible yet focused approach to service delivery”.