Why did you choose the patent profession / What attracted you to Reddie & Grose?

Throughout my A-levels and the majority of my degree, I was firmly set on pursuing a career as a scientist.  However, during my final-year project at university, I realised that working in a lab all day every day was not for me.  Whilst I didn’t want to waste my scientific degree, I began to look for a career that offered greater variety and new intellectual challenges.

I came across the patent profession by chance, through an old family friend who worked at the Patent Office.   As I started researching the role of a patent attorney, I found it to be very appealing – it seemed to offer the opportunity to use my science background, whilst also exploring a whole new area of intellectual property law.   As a patent attorney, it is essential to develop good communication skills, both written and verbal and this was also something that attracted me.  I have always loved writing and actively sought opportunities throughout my degree to work on my writing skills, in both scientific writing as well as journalism.

At that time, there was not a vast amount of information about the career of a patent attorney and in fact, the careers adviser I spoke to tried to discourage me from applying (too difficult!).  However, rather than putting me off the career, this only increased my determination, and I started to make applications for graduate positions.  I was looking for a firm with a strong reputation and training culture, which would also provide me with a friendly work environment and a good work life balance.  I was lucky enough to land straightaway at R&G, where I have been ever since.

Your main roles and responsibilities

As a partner at R&G, I have quite varied responsibilities.  I still do a good amount of day-to-day patent work, such as drafting, prosecution and infringement opinions, and I enjoy this work.  I also now spend a proportion of my time helping to run our business.  Some of this comes in the form of ‘client care’, which involves making sure that we are doing the best possible job for our clients.  I particularly enjoy my role as a people manager – training and mentoring more junior members of the team, recruiting new trainees and liaising with support staff.  I have a strong interest in sustainable innovation and spend some time on internal and external committees that are trying to support this.

The challenges of the role

It probably goes without saying that a lot of the work that we do is intellectually demanding.  Most of the time, I feel lucky to have such interesting and challenging work, and I’m happy to put my brain to good use, but every now and then, I do find myself wishing for a few more mundane tasks that don’t require quite so much mental effort!

The role does involve juggling a lot of different tasks, deadlines and responsibilities at once, which can be tricky at times, especially when you are trying to balance work with family life.  I have worked part-time for many years since starting a family and I feel very fortunate that at R&G I have had the flexibility and support to build a career that works for me.  It is essential to be well organised and good at prioritising, and I think it is also important to be able to stay calm when things get busy and you feel under pressure.

Do you have any advice for those looking to enter the profession?

This is an exciting and challenging career path, but it does require hard work and dedication and it’s important to understand what the training process and day to day work involves, so that you can decide whether it is the right fit for you.  If you can, try to find an opportunity to speak to someone already in the profession, or to take part in an open day or internship program at a patent firm to gain a better insight.

After all that, if you are still motivated and genuinely interested in training as a patent attorney, then go for it!  Take your time to research firms carefully and look for those that you think will support you through your training and offer the kind of work environment that you are looking for.