Bird & Bird

Intellectual Property

Melissa is the head of the Intellectual Property Group for the Middle East, global co-head of the Franchise Group  and a partner in the International Commercial Group.

Melissa has practised in the UAE since 2006 and has been recognised and ranked in many of the legal directories for her commercial and intellectual property experience.

She advises our clients on intellectual property, commercial, corporate and general litigation matters relating to their operations in the UAE and the wider Middle East region. This covers matters such as IT, IP, trademark protection, franchising, and commercial licensing of intellectual property, media, healthcare, consumer protection and regulatory issues. She particularly specialises in franchising, distribution and supply agreements having acted for some of the world largest brands when licensing their intellectual property in the Middle East.

I also regularly write chapters for legal text books such as the Franchise Law Review, the Life Sciences Reviews, the Franchise Law Journal, the IBA's newsletters and Middle East journals and I'm regularly invited to speak at events throughout the GCC.

English

Melissa is a member of Chartered Secretaries Australia (Australian Division of ICSA), is the Middle East representative for the Leisure Industries section of the IBA Legal Practice Division and is a member of a number of UAE, UK, USA and Australian business associations.

Her professional memberships also include INTA, the American Bar Association and she is a member the Franchising Committee of the International Bar Association.

Melissa is admitted to the Supreme Court of Queensland and holds an LLB from the Queensland University of Technology, Australia and a Graduate Diploma of Applied Corporate Governance.