Every year a cohort of trainee attorneys start their IP career with us; we commit to ensuring that those who drive progress have their creativity protected and talent rewarded.
“The process of progressing through the steep learning curve has been made enjoyable by the enthusiasm, patience, and knowledge of the other attorneys in the engineering team, who are always keen to lend a hand, especially on any particularly tricky cases.”
I studied Mechanical Engineering at the University of Bristol. Although I really enjoyed my time studying, I wanted to explore professions outside of the typical “engineering” route. With that in mind, I attended a networking event for STEM students, where I had the fortune of meeting a patent attorney recruiter.
I was sold by the profession, which was explained (to me) to be a kind-of fusion between engineering and law, which could involve for example attending inventor meetings to help advise them on their IP rights, drafting patent specifications, and prosecuting cases to grant.
And this has certainly been my experience, in my day-to-day I work with a huge variety of technology, from satellite systems to micro-electromechanical sensors, prosthetic limbs and medical devices to vehicle propulsion. So far, I have drafted specifications, proposed responses in European and British prosecution cases, been an active member in inventor meetings, and generally gained exposure to the profession through a range of different tasks. The process of progressing through the steep learning curve has been made enjoyable by the enthusiasm, patience, and knowledge of the other attorneys in the engineering team, who are always keen to lend a hand, especially on any particularly tricky cases.
I chose HLK because of its friendly down-to-earth culture and dedicated approach to training, exemplified through the HLK academy. Within HLK there are patent attorneys, trademark attorneys, solicitors, even judges, and the HLK academy presents the opportunity to learn, in an intimate classroom setting, from that wealth of experience. I got to travel and learn alongside a fellow cohort of trainees, and the relationship that we built in training has become incredibly important, especially as exam stress mounts.
My experience has been that HLK has a great culture, which focusses on building trainee confidence, exposure to different areas of the law, and developing meaningful relationships with the colleagues around you, with the ultimate goal being to catalyse the training years and effectively forge trainees into competent attorneys.
Supporting your development is paramount to us and our HLK Academy is only the beginning!
Read more about HLK Academy & beyond.
Every year in September our new intake of bright-eyed trainee attorneys join us and start on their journey through to qualification and beyond. We do throw them in at the deep end somewhat – they start the HLK Academy during their first week with us. Our trainees come from all our offices across various teams and disciplines, and the Academy is a great way for them to get to know and collaborate with their cohorts who they will be starting their HLK journey alongside.
We wanted to shine a light on how HLK support the transition from graduate to trainee attorney, and what it looks like at the beginning of a career that is generally less well known – a career as a patent attorney. This is a specialised legal profession, qualified to advise clients on patents and help them secure patents around the world.
I still remember the day in 2006 when I started out as a Trainee Patent Attorney like it was yesterday, and it has taken a lot of hard work to progress through the ranks. But, here I am in 2021 as a Partner of the firm, working alongside colleagues who were already Partners at the time I started as a trainee and who I have looked up to throughout my career.
HLK Academy is the in-house training programme coordinated and run by the senior attorneys and Partners here at HLK. It starts from the very first week of life as a trainee with an introduction to the firm and the Academy and how it will run, followed by an introduction to the key patent systems.
Most of those in the patent attorney profession find the career richly rewarding due to the wide variety of complex legal and technical issues involved in commercialising an invention. However, an unfortunate truth is that to enjoy such an interesting career, a series of exams need to be passed to qualify as a UK and European Patent attorney.
Innovation is occurring all of the time, whether it be at start-ups, universities and their spin-out companies, or multinational corporations, which is reflected in the varied work that we do for our clients. As a result, the role of a trainee patent attorney is both an exciting and challenging one, which involves learning about new areas of technology on a daily basis.