During my studies, I worked a couple of different summer internships to gauge my interest for working in a variety of fields. After completing my first internship at URS (now acquired by Aecom), in their advanced structures division, I quickly came to the realisation that engineering consultancy was not for me. Changing tack and interning as a tax advisor provided no further secure knowledge of what I wanted to do. It wasn’t until the end of first term in my final year, when an alumnus from the Chemical Engineering department came to give a talk about IP, that I felt inspired.
I joined the Physics, Engineering, and IT team at Abel & Imray in September 2017. The job is a unique blend of science and law, a discipline I was always interested in. Fresh challenges are continuously being thrown up, and the variety of work keeps you on your toes – be it drafting, prosecution, litigation, or freedom to operate work. The variety of clients also provides exposure to a broad range of entities from lone inventors to large multinationals, all of whom appreciate that the attorneys have a strong technical background enabling us to converse on a similar technical level about the inventions.
Training starts on the first day of the job, and doesn’t stop until you fully qualify! My work is supervised by partners across all three offices, and I travel to the Bath office regularly to discuss some of the cases I have ongoing with the partners there, which accounts for around half of my current caseload. Now that I am more experienced, I have a few cases where I am the main point of contact for the client, which really supports my professional growth.
Having passed the Queen Mary Intellectual Property Law course, I am now preparing to sit my UK and European final exams as the next step to becoming a fully qualified attorney.
The firm is medium sized but maintains a feeling of close-knit togetherness through regular travel between offices and (at least) monthly social events. This collaborative and supportive office culture is one of the main reasons that I enjoy my work at Abel & Imray.