Former Gowling IP head joins Trevisan & Cuonzo in Milan

Renowned senior IP practitioner Gordon Harris is to leave Gowling WLG for an of counsel position at Italian firm, Trevisan & Cuonzo. Harris, who has been at Gowling for 41 years, will be located in the UK with frequent trips to the firm’s Milan office. He joins on 1 April, just three months before the city’s UPC central division seat is open for cases.

A career at Gowling

Gordon Harris

Harris joined Wragge & Co., as it then was, in 1982 as a solicitor, steadily climbing up through the ranks to become a partner in 1990 and head of the firm’s IP team in 1995. From 1996, Harris alongside second IP partner, David Barron, built up the IP team. They worked closely together until Barron passed away in 2019.

Harris then remained in the position until spring 2020, at which time IP litigator and Harris’ former trainee Kate Swaine took over the role.

In 2000, Wragge & Co. had merged with Needham & Grant; in 2016, Canadian firm Gowling merged with the firm once again to create Gowling WLG. A global firm, it now has its UK locations in London and Birmingham, as well as offices in Brussels, Munich, Dubai, Paris, and Guangzhou, China.

In 2022, Harris stepped down from the firm’s partnership to become of counsel, a role he will retain until 31 March 2024. He is simultaneously involved in the firm’s Global IP Leadership team.

UPC in crosshairs

Upon his arrival at Trevisan & Cuonzo, Harris will strengthen the firm’s international profile, especially in the Far East, and advise clients on how to devise efficient enforcement strategies.

As a native English speaker, Harris is also well-placed to work with clients regarding UPC developments and case law, and especially its common law aspects which the UK practitioners largely influenced prior to the Brexit vote. This then led to the UK’s withdrawal from the court project. Indeed, the UPC is a topic on which Harris has led throughout his time as partner, and then as of counsel, at Gowling WLG.

Speaking to JUVE Patent, Gordon Harris says, “I am extremely keen to be involved more closely in the UPC and, when the opportunity evolved to make this a reality at Trevisan & Cuonzo – a firm I already know very well – it was an adventure I couldn’t turn down. Even after 41 years in IP, I am not ready to retire; I leave Gowling safe in the knowledge that there is a wealth of talented people who have the ability to shape the firm’s IP team for the future.”

Harris continues, “I am leaving on great terms, and now I’m just very excited to be part of a firm which is well-placed to play a key role in the UPC from the heart of Europe.”

Milan the next focus

Gabriel Cuonzo, managing partner of Trevisan & Cuonzo, says, “Gordon is a friend and we have known him for many years, having worked together in several high impact multi-jurisdictional IP cases. We are very pleased to have the opportunity to work closely with him in the future, as he will fit perfectly with our firm’s goals and its dedication in providing high quality services to our clients”.

A specialist IP firm, Trevisan & Cuonzo was founded in 1993 and now has eleven partners across a network of offices across Italy in Milan, Rome, Parma and Bari. The UPC’s third central division, located in Milan, will open at the end of June 2024. It will have competency to hear cases regarding human necessities, which the Paris central division is currently overseeing.