Rebecca O'Kelly-Gillard

Rebecca O'Kelly-Gillard is a Partner in the Intellectual Property Group in London and co-head of Bird & Bird's International Copyright Group. Her primary practice area is Intellectual Property Law.

She has worked extensively with multinational organisations across various industry sectors in all areas of soft IP, with a particular focus on helping clients solve trade mark and copyright issues that have a digital or online focus.

A major part of her practice is working with companies to set up their global brand enforcement projects — using technology to streamline processes and make anti-counterfeit programmes as cost-effective as possible. This includes developing strategies to help large global brands protect and enforce their rights from online infringement and perfect their digital footprint. As part of developing global anti-counterfeit strategies, she has worked extensively with customs authorities and was invited to be the Irish liaison between rights holders and international customs authorities in the initial phase of the World Customs Organisation's Interface Public-Members Tool project.

Her digital focus relates to all IP issues arising online, including highly complex issues regarding copyright infringement, hyperlinking and the communication of works to the public. She works with a range of service platforms, content owners and content creators, helping them navigate their business against a changing legislative backdrop. She is a member of Bird & Bird's Digital Rights & Assets steering group.

While her focus has been on contentious IP work — including mediation and arbitration — she has also worked on major corporate transactions with significant IP issues, particularly transactions involving complex cross-border issues and future-proofing IP arrangements to take account of digital developments.

She joined Bird & Bird in 2012 after training and practising with a leading Irish law firm for several years and working at a 'magic circle' firm in London.