UK law firm Ashfords has strengthened its commercial intellectual property (IP) team, which has a focus on non-contentious IP, food and regulatory law, with the arrival of Kristy Coleman as legal director.
Kristy joins from Huddersfield firm Greengage where she was a partner for 18 months.
Ashfords, which has offices in Bristol, London, Exeter and Plymouth, said that she brought a wealth of experience within a variety of sectors spanning food and drink, creative, retail and publishing and had worked with an array of different businesses from start-ups to international brands.
She has experience advising on a variety of matters ranging from general commercial to health and nutrition claims, product labelling and advertising of different products and services.
She specialises in supporting businesses as they navigate issues linked to changing regulation, such as selling food online and the changing stance on HFSS (high in fat sugar or salt) foods, and is a committee member of the Food Law Group.
Kristy’s appointment follows Ashfords’ strong performance in this year’s Legal 500 law directory, with its commercial and IP teams ranked top tier. IP partner Carl Steele was also promoted to the ‘hall of fame’ category.
Ashfords partner and head of commercial & IP Brian Farrell said: “It’s a pleasure to welcome Kristy to the team. Her range of experience will help bolster our expertise and help our clients to meet their commercial goals.”
Kristy added: “I’m thrilled to join Ashfords and look forward to supporting clients in many areas of their business through its dedicated teams.
“I’m excited to bring my industry-specific experience to help understand the challenges many clients face.”
Ashfords, which employs more than 500 people, is part way through a five-year strategy focused on growing its core legal advisory work for commercial, real estate and private clients.
