The role

We are looking for individuals who enjoy learning about cutting-edge research and who want to apply their scientific knowledge to work outside of academia. At Appleyard Lees, you will be able to put your degree to use from day one, as you’ll be working with a broad range across chemical sectors within large corporate companies, universities, SME’s and start-up businesses to protect ground-breaking innovation. The job is intellectually challenging, as you will work on brand new innovation before anyone else hears about it, but it is also rewarding.

You will be trained by our Partners and Senior Associates, and from your first day you will be working on real work for our clients. You will be able to join meetings with inventors, watch our qualified attorneys when they participate in hearings/trials, and learn from our talented paralegals. As our clients file patent applications in the UK and Europe, you will gain real experience that is directly relevant to the professional exams you will undertake. In addition to this practical experience, our trainees are given all the support they need to qualify as UK and European patent attorneys. We combine in-house exam-specific tutorials with external courses, to help our trainees to obtain the knowledge and skills they need to qualify.

About you

• Degree in Chemistry
• PhD is preferable
• Industrial experience is highly desirable
• Live within a commutable distance from the office
• Ability to take on large amounts of information and think logically
• Commitment to meeting client expectations
• Willingness and ability to take on responsible at an early stage
• Good communicator both written and verbally with the ability to communicate at all levels

What we can offer

We pride ourselves on being small and friendly enough for you to get to know everyone – but big enough to offer you great career prospects. We also offer:

• 34 hour working week
• Agile working
• Annual salary review
• Life assurance
• Healthcare cash plan
• A supportive and friendly place to work and learn
• Social outings
• Birthday voucher
• Charity events

Our clients include household brands, tech start-ups and multinational corporations as well as local businesses and SMEs. We have a well-earned reputation for long-standing relationships. We ensure that we understand our clients’ business objectives

Our clients choose us because we offer the combination of technical knowledge, clarity and commerciality whilst taking the time to get to know them.

Equality, Diversity & Inclusion

Equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) has always been part of the core values of Appleyard Lees.  This isn’t just about the partners, or how we do things at Appleyard Lees, this is about everyone. Appleyard Lees offer a career path within a structure that encourages development for everyone.

We welcome the unique contribution that you will bring to our firm and actively encourage applications from all talented people – however your talent is packaged, whatever your background or circumstance and regardless of how you identify.