Governance

Responsible, ethical business is fundamental to what we do, as our success is built on our honest business practices and people-focused approach.

We have a very strong ethos of quality and outstanding client service, and that’s why we seek to continually improve and always look to find ‘a better way’.

We are committed to good and open governance practices throughout our businesses, which falls within the scope of our Environmental, Social and Governance group.

Man using a HLK pen to write in a notebook

Security measures

Security is another of our key principles, and we have implemented a number of measures to secure our data, network and people against threats, including cyber threats.

We have been awarded Cyber Essentials Plus certification, and seek recertification each year. This means our security measures to secure our IT systems against cyber attacks have been independently assessed.

Moreover, we align our internal processes for managing information security to ISO 27001 standards, and use this as an internal benchmarking measure.

Grey HLK notebooks on a table

Data privacy

We are committed to ensuring that data privacy is protected. We take technical and organisational security measures to protect data against accidental or intentional manipulation, loss, destruction, misuse or access by unauthorised persons or against unauthorised disclosure. More information can be found in our Privacy Policy.

HLK colleagues sat around a laptop, one of them holding a HLK-branded folder

Professional conduct

Quality is one of our key principles, and our professionals maintain high standards of professional conduct and compliance. They adhere to the rules set out for UK patent and trade mark attorneys, Irish patent agents, European patent attorneys, German patent attorneys, and solicitors or attorneys-at-law.

UK patent attorneys are members of the Chartered Institute of Patent Attorneys. Our German patent attorneys are members of the German Patent Attorneys Association (Patentanwaltskammer), and our Irish patent agents are on the register of Irish Patent Agents held by the Irish Patents Office.

Our UK solicitors are members of The Law Society of England & Wales and are regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA). Our German Attorneys-at-Law are admitted to practice in Germany and are members of the Munich Bar Association (Rechtsanwaltskammer München).

More information on codes of conduct and regulation are available on these sites: FICPI, epi, IPReg and SRA, and you’ll find further details on our legal notice.

The rules governing conduct do not allow our attorneys to represent conflicting interests. For this reason, one of our practices is to ascertain before confirming representation whether a conflict of interest exists.

Computer keyboards and mice on a desk

Ethical business

We have a statement on modern slavery and policies on anti-money laundering and crime financing, and anti-bribery and corrupt practices.

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