Nashville partner Edward Playfair has been named the Adams and Reese intellectual property team leader and will coordinate the firm’s IP practice, announced managing partner Gif Thornton.
The work of the firm's IP team, which currently comprises 24 attorneys, encompasses the full range of trademark, patent and copyright law. The IP team also provides innovative guidance and business solutions on anti-counterfeiting, privacy and data protection, digital business and litigation.
Playfair joined Adams and Reese in 2009 and has extensive experience in the areas of United States and international trademarks, brand protection, e-commerce and franchising. Born in Australia and raised in the United Kingdom, Playfair brings an especially international perspective to advising clients on matters around the globe. He previously practiced international law in the United Kingdom and is admitted as a solicitor of the Supreme Court of England and Wales.
He also draws on his pre-legal career to bring a business mindset to his work, having served as an independent consultant to The Coca-Cola Company on sponsorship and brand promotion initiatives at the XIX Olympic Winter Games, Salt Lake City 2002, and at The Masters golf tournament.
Playfair is a member of the American Bar Association, International Trademark Association (INTA), Nashville Bar Association and Tennessee Bar Association. With the ABA, he is a member of the intellectual property law section and forum on franchising, while previously serving as an enforcement committee member of the INTA.
A 1995 M.A. graduate of the University of St. Andrews, Playfair received both his G.D.L. in 2004 and his L.P.C. in 2005 from the University of the West of England.