Exciting News About Our Intellectual Property Team

We are delighted to announce the expansion of our Intellectual Property team, with the hiring of Jack Hopwood, Yasmin Saadi and Ricky Landa.

As our company continues to expand across all our service lines, it’s crucial to have a dedicated team focused on maximising the value of Intellectual Property assets. Strengthening our Intellectual Property team ensures we effectively leverage our intellectual property portfolio to drive revenue and strategic partnerships.

Commenting on the the team expansion Steve Kerr, Senior Director of Intellectual Property, said;

“This is a truly exciting time for our team and reflects the importance of incorporating all asset classes when we provide advice to our clients. We have a fantastic team coming together, with a broad skillset and plenty of enthusiasm, and I’m really looking forward to the opportunities that this brings for our team and for Hilco.”

Jack Hopwood | Associate Director

Jack has worked in the Intellectual Property advisory sector for the past 11 years, beginning his career in Thomson Reuters’ Intellectual Property & Science division, which later became Clarivate Analytics. Prior to joining Hilco, Jack worked as a Manager in Deloitte’s Intellectual Property Advisory team, where he provided Intellectual Property strategy and transaction services to a diverse range of clients, including start-ups, FTSE 500 companies, government agencies and universities.

Biggest work accomplishment within Intellectual Property?

One of my most significant accomplishments in the Intellectual Property field was supporting a Northern European government defence agency with a large-scale data analysis project. The project involved identifying and analysing all aerospace and defence patents filed within a potentially hostile country. The complexity of the technology and the vast dataset made it challenging, often causing my laptop to go into meltdown! What made this project particularly memorable was presenting the findings in a secure military bunker to senior-ranking officials, which felt a little bit like something out of a low-budget and probably quite boring James Bond movie.

How did you get into the industry?

It’s funny how life sometimes has a way of nudging you in a direction you didn’t expect. With both of my parents working at the European Patent Office (EPO) in Munich, it seemed almost inevitable that I’d end up in the IP industry. But to be honest, I never really envisioned myself following in their footsteps as I always found the topic a bit dry.

That all changed during my MSc in Cancer Research, when I had to do a Dragon’s Den-style pitch for investment in a patent covering a novel cancer therapy, which I ended up getting the “Dragon’s” backing for. This really sparked my interest in the commercial aspects of IP and was the beginning of my pursuit of a career within the field.

Would you share with us an exciting recent personal experience you’ve had?

As my teammates are already painfully aware, I recently went to Japan for 4 weeks (I may have mentioned it a couple of times…). I had originally booked a 2-week holiday but ended up extending my trip twice as I was having such a good time. I visited most of the major cities including Tokyo, Kyoto, Osaka, Nara, Kobe, Hiroshima and then went island hopping for 10 days around Okinawa. A memorable part of the trip was meeting a group of Japanese people on a night out and drunkenly deciding to go on a 2-day trip together to a remote island called Kuroshima. On our first night we spent the evening with a bunch of locals, who made us play Japanese drinking games that involved downing copious amounts of Awamori, whilst one of the locals played traditional folk music on an instrument similar to a banjo called a sanshin. What made the night extra special was the setting as we were in a little hut right by the beach with a perfectly clear view of the Milky Way right above us – something I’ll never forget!

Yasmin Saadi | Senior Analyst

After graduating from Biochemistry at Queen Mary University of London, Yasmin spent 4 years at PwC as part of the Audit graduate programme. Largely working on FTSE 250 listed clients within the entertainment and media industry. Having her fair share of 5am finishes during the busy season!

Biggest work accomplishment to date?

My biggest personal work accomplishment to date would be gaining my ACA chartered accountancy credentials.

What brought you to the world of Intellectual Property?

I enjoyed Intellectual Property and insolvency related work at my last role so was keen to expand my knowledge and saw this opportunity as the perfect way to make an impact within the world of Intellectual Property.

Do you have a fun fact about yourself to share with us?

Some may not think this is fun, but I played cricket for my county up until the age of 18 (hung up my whites to move to London)!

Ricky Landa | Senior Analyst

Before joining Hilco, Ricky was at Grant Thornton for 2 years where he qualified as a Chartered Accountant. He then moved over to KPMG, where he worked in the private equity group within deals advisory, undertaking financial due diligence work.

Biggest work accomplishment to date?

It was a very proud moment qualifying as an accountant, but my biggest achievement was the completion of a $2 billion deal in the nuclear space which took over 12 months to complete!

What is one of the most unusual/interesting case you’ve worked on?

During my audit days, I undertook a stock take at Wetherspoons where I needed to count food products in their large freezer; my ski gear came in handy!

Do you have any personal events coming up that you are excited for?

I am really excited to be going on a road trip throughout September, where I will be travelling down the west coast of America! I have a lot of things planned for the trip and look forward to sharing them with everyone when I come back!

We are confident that the development of our Intellectual Property team will play a crucial role in our ongoing success. The combined expertise of our new starters bring will not only enhance the value of our current Intellectual Property team but also support future advancements.

Please join us in welcoming our new team members and celebrating this significant milestone for our company!