Being willing to take a risk and make the move to a new jurisdiction is part of the secret to success, says Freshfields partner Connie Carnabuci.

Freshfields Hong Kong partner Connie Carnabuci is an Australian lawyer whose willingness to take calculated risks has allowed her to make an impact on the international intellectual property and IT law scene beyond most lawyers’ wildest dreams. Her name appears in the Communications and Technology Law Review, Patent World and Managing Intellectual Property and she is consulted by clients including Morgan Stanley and GE Capital and has worked with Telstra, Alibaba.com and a host of others.

She will tell you much of it was luck and circumstance, but in fact her passion, dedication to IP law and disciplined approach all landed her the coveted partnership at Freshfields – as well as that all-important capacity to recognize an opportunity to add value for clients. 

Since her days as a judge’s associate in the Federal Court of Australia and later as articled clerk with Mallesons in Sydney during the mid-late 80s, Carnabuci knew she wanted to work in IP and IT law and her career path was set. What she perhaps didn’t know was that this was the perfect time to pursue those particular practice areas: it was just the right moment to follow the evolution of technology into the world of business, all the way from LAN to wireless networks to today’s cloud computing world; Carnabuci was there from the start and her clients appreciate that.

Carnabuci soon found herself in New York office advising clients during the dot com boom before coming back to Sydney in 1995, just as Telstra was in the process of being privatised and needed expert advice on IP/IT advisory and transaction work. Telstra would later help Carnabuci establish a practice group with Mallesons in Hong Kong, but first she became partner in Sydney on 1 January, 1997 before her husband suggested they should both go and live abroad.

Mallesons was “really hard work with challenging clients” according to Carnabuci. After she decided to make the move to Hong Kong for family reasons, she was asked by Mallesons to start a practice group there. Seizing the opportunity, she vowed to make it work both for Mallesons and herself, and she did. Using a diligent, straight talking approach Carnabuci sought out clients whom she had worked with or were known to have a presence in Asia (including Telstra, involved in important joint ventures in the region at the time). Before long the practice, which had started out with just herself and a  laptop, was in recruitment mode. Carnabuci also now has two young boys growing up in Hong Kong and says she and her husband balance their careers by treating each as important as the other.

Since February 2002, Carnabuci has been working with the biggest names in technology and finance and made a name as a major commentator on IP law, as author, co-author and contributor to a number of titles and is also chair of the International Trademark Association. “Moving to Hong Kong was a risk but it was really experiencing the whole thing on another level,” she said, adding that she might not have been able to do what she has done in the industry in Australia. “I think what’s really important is to find what you love to do and do it right,” she concluded.