Patent agency, including advising on and assisting with patent applications, preparation and filing, paperwork, searching for prior art, writing legally enforceable claims of ownership, revising rejected patent applications.

Led key project (Agile project management using Jira) managing the Rights and Permissions process for updating rights of 3000 titles – a high intensity project with extremely tight deadline. Managed direct team of 6 and up to 30 external Integra stakeholders. Completed 60% of the project before having to relocate to Sweden and delivered detailed hand-over to team

Provided comprehensive rights and permissions advice and services to clients (authors and publishers, such as Oxford University Press and Hodder Education) on likelihood or challenges of protecting their intellectual property. Drafted agreements including freelance agreements and employment contracts as well as website terms and conditions, cookie policies, and privacy notices.  Developed and prepared a course for emerging Publishers, titled ‘Legal Side of Publishing’ which was presented at the Publishers Association of South Africa Drove resolution of a Rights and Permissions project for Hodder Education within a very short timeframe

Promoted to lead 3 diverse teams (10 employees) in South Africa, India, and Hong Kong, taking time to understand cultures and develop communications / relations between teams across time zones. Set and monitored KPIs to drive achievement of goals and collaborated on various regional and global IP related projects. Managed comprehensive asset procurement and rights recording in alignment with rights standards, policies, and strategies using internal staff and designated vendors and freelancers Project managed large key project to renew +/-100 000 assets within tight deadline Provided subject matter expertise on IP requirements, policies and tools/systems to vendors and businesses in all 3 territories Streamlined workflow process across all 3 territories and compiled and analysed data and practices to drive initiatives for continuous operational improvement Implemented new Rights Audit process in South Africa and collaborated with various business units to manage the change process and ensure smooth implementation while developing and maintaining relationship between Legal Department and Rights and Permissions Team Negotiated with rights holders and agencies in Africa, India, and Hong Kong to secure suitable rights and monitored all licensing activity and third-party assets for products, across territories, to ensure adherence of Pearson Rights and Permissions policies, accuracy of rights records, payments were made, and projects were problem free  Drove business change and ensured impact of changes in law or enactments of new legislation were fed into business processes; compiled associated data and prepared and submitted reports to the Director and VP of Rights and Permissions

Managed external team of 10, the text and audio research process for Africa, and the research budgets provided by content creation teams. Actioned all Intellectual Property queries raised by the business. Assessed various Intellectual Property Policies of Third Parties and reviewed and researched various Intellectual Property Laws across Africa, and drafted opinions related to queries. Member of working group for all territories. Collaborated on the roll out of the new Three Tier System at Pearson. Rolled out extensive training to all business units on the protection of Pearson’s assets in the whole of Africa and maintained and conducted an annual training schedule to internal and external stakeholders on the protection of Pearson Intellectual Property Developed a collaborative relationship with Content Development teams to ensure inclusion in all steps of the book development process and streamlined the Rights and Permissions process to enable more effective handovers and drive completion of projects more efficiently and cost effectively.  Reduced costs and time by negotiating Licence Agreements to enable blanket permissions and working on numerous titles in-house Supported the Global Office with a large Copyright Infringement matter Acquired, shared and re-purposed content across all the businesses that fell under Pearson Education, and mitigated any risk that arose from any such sharing and re-purposing. Conducted assessments and/or evaluations on fair dealing, public domain, and Creative Commons’ materials.

Awarded freelance contract following internship to assist the Permissions and Intellectual Property Management Lead and the Content Management and Legal Services Manager with the Out-of-Print Audit, Rights Capture Audit, and the review and summary of Copyright Legislation in 22 countries while completing master’s degree and writing thesis.  Audited over 1000 author contracts to complete out of print process Reviewed and summarised Copyright Legislation in 22 African countries

Established and maintained the Agreement Schedule for the whole of the Masscash Group.Vetted, and drafted various agreement, including, amongst others, Acknowledgements of Debt and Settlement Agreements, Deeds of Assignment and/or Substitution Agreements, Lease Agreements, and assisted in the maintenance of the Lease Schedule.Vetted and researched various applicable and/or new Legislation, e.g. POPPI, The Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, The UK Bribery Act, the new Companies Act, the new Competition Act etc, and ensured that the companies within the Masscash Group complied with this LegislationDrafted opinions regarding various queries regarding Legislation.Worked with the Risk Assessment Team to ensure that all risk that may be applicable is mitigatedOrganised, maintained and monitored Landlord related building maintenance issues.Attended to various legal matters and/or issues arising, e.g. Right of Admission query and Consumer Protection Act queries.Reviewed and maintained the Trade Mark portfolio for the whole of the Masscash Group.Drafted various Legal Letters, e.g., Cease and Desist Letters, and Letters of Demand.Instructed Attorneys and monitored progress in respect of Trade Mark Litigation matters.Perused and maintained all advertising and promotional material, to ensure that all advertising and promotional material complied with the Consumer Protection Act, and applicable regulations.Perused all the house brands labels to ensure that they complied with the various food safety and general merchandise regulations.Reviewed the terms and conditions of all promotional competitions to ensure compliance with the Consumer Protection Act, and monitoring the promotional competitions to fruition.Ensured Masscash’s compliance with the National Credit Act, more particularly section 129.Compiled monthly Credit and Legal Reports.Instructed attorneys and monitored progress in litigation matters and worked with the Attorneys until the matter was resolved

Conducted classification and registrability searches, and drafted opinions in respect of the results thereof.Drafted and prepared various Trade Mark Applications and filed same locally and internationally.Attended to clients’ brand enforcement needs including, infringement, and opposition proceedings,domain name disputes, company and close corporation name objections, Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) complaints as well as anti-counterfeiting.Compiled and filed various Design Applications, and monitored the prosecution thereof until they proceeded to grant.Assisted in the drafting of Provisional Patent Specifications, and attended to the filing of various Patent Applications (Provisional / Final), locally and internationally (PCT Applications), and monitored the prosecution of the Patent until it proceeded to grant.

I completed my Articles of Clerkship at Weavind and Weavind, in the following areas -General Litigation in Magistrate and High CourtTrial preparation for Magistrate and High CourtMotion Court and Trial Court AppearancesLegal advisory services offered to clients in respect of 3rd party litigation and family law matters.Attended to various 3rd party claims and repudiation matters for Outsurance and Alexander Forbes.Client consultation on various matters.Advised clients on various agreements, legal issues and legislation.Identified and assessed client’s needs.Maintained client relationship.