Becoming a Patent / Trade Mark Attorney
ROUTE TO QUALIFICATION
Once you have identified the IP profession as
your chosen future career, what do you now need to do to gain the
necessary formal qualifications and work towards being a Patent or
Trade Mark Attorney?
There are clearly defined examination routes
for both Patent and Trade Mark Professions including some exams
common to both:
Completion of all of these Patent exams will allow candidates to
practice as a fully qualified UK Chartered and European Patent
Attorney. Candidates who complete the Trade Mark exams can practice
as a Qualified Trade Mark Attorney. Qualification is only permitted
once candidates have completed 2 years' work in the profession.
Exams are sat once annually and can be
re-taken if appropriate. The UK exams are taken each November, with
results announced at the end of the following March. The European
exams (EQE's) are taken each March with the results announced in
the following August.
Additionally a Post-Graduate Diploma in
Intellectual Property / LLM is run out of one of 4 universities:
Queen Mary (University of London); Manchester; Bournemouth and
Brunel. Completion of one of these courses will result in exemption
from all the foundation papers.
Furthermore candidates who have passed the
Law Degree (LLB), Masters (LLM), Post-Graduate Diploma in Law
(GDL), Legal Practice Course (LPC) or Bar Vocational Course (BVC)
have varying degrees of exemptions within the IP exam process.
There are anticipated changed to the Trade
Mark Qualification route (as above) to consolidate the existing
exam structure into two more formal courses run over extended
weekends throughout a 12 - 18 month period. Candidates will still
be required to have a couple of years' experience to be eligible to
qualify. Who will run these courses and the exact detail is still
being finalised and will be confirmed later in 2010.
Private Practice firms who recruit candidates
at a raw graduate level will look to support candidates through
this process. Some will encourage candidates to take all the
Foundation Papers individually whereas others will encourage
attendance on one of the IP Diplomas to gain exemption from the
Foundation Papers. For further information please see our
'Guide to Graduates' below or speak to one of our
consultants by calling 0113 245 3338 or by emailing catherine.french@saccomann.com
GUIDE TO GRADUATES SEEKING A
CAREER AS AN IP PROFESSIONAL
So what is the next step? You have achieved a
technical or legal degree and want a highly dynamic, intellectual
and established profession to provide an alternative to the
traditional laboratory or legal routes. If you have settled on a
career within IP what should you do to ensure the transfer from
scientist / engineer / legal graduate to patent / trade mark
attorney is a smooth one?
Identify
your niche as soon as possible
So…Patents or Trade Marks? Read around the
professions and make your initial choice early and focus all your
experience and future academics on achieving this. Generally,
Patent Attorneys will have a technical, scientific background
whereas Trade Mark Attorneys tend to have a broader variety of
backgrounds, commonly amongst the Arts, Humanities, Business and /
or Law.
Gain as much
experience as soon as possible
Make applications for vacation placements,
work experience and professional shadowing. These are usually
easier to achieve in a private practice or 'firm' rather than an
industrial client. This will not only confirm or deny your
enthusiasm for the profession but will show future employers a
commitment to the IP industry and to gaining experience at the
earliest opportunity.
Register and get to know our
consultants - but with the future in mind.
Sacco Mann is well placed to help candidates
who are part-qualified, i.e. have passed a couple of foundation
papers or passed the Queen Mary IP certificate (See separate
'Route to Qualification' article). However, most
private practices tend to seek to recruit raw graduates directly.
We can register your details with us in any event as clients do
sometimes instruct us on trainee vacancies as and when they are
struggling to recruit directly. Additionally it helps everyone if
we can get to know you at the earliest opportunity so that in the
future, once you have passed some of the exams, we are best placed
to advise you as comprehensively and efficiently as possible.
Apply to
firms directly
Many of our clients advertise directly
on www.insidecareers.co.uk which is a very informative website that will
give you details on different firms and how to apply to them.
Although it's predominantly focused on Patent Attorneys, many of
the firms featured there have Trade Marks departments which will
recruit at trainee level. This is a good starting point in terms of
getting to know the profession. For rankings of firms etc, please
also consider www.legal500.com and view the relevant section within the 'TMT'
section.
See our separate article on
'Route to
Qualification' at the top of this page for advice on how and where to get the formal
qualifications for both Patent & Trade Mark
Attorneys.