Job title: Trainee Patent Attorney (Chemical)
Location: London
University: University of Oxford
Degree: Integrated master’s degree in Chemistry
Why did you choose a career in the profession?
While I was in sixth form college, I attended a careers talk given by an in-house patent attorney from Astra Zeneca. The job struck me as one that I might enjoy: I was liking A-level Chemistry; I enjoy having a variety of tasks to work on at any given moment; and having a sensible work-life balance has always been important to me. Also, I studied English Literature at A-level, and I liked the idea of a career which involved writing and communicating.
As I came towards the end of my studies, I knew that I didn’t want to work in a lab or do more research, but I still wanted to use the knowledge of Chemistry that I had gained over the previous four years. A career in patent law appeared to tick all my boxes so I made the leap to embark on the application process and here we are!
A day in the life
As anyone in the career will tell you, every day in this profession is different. Generally, I aim to get into the office around 8:30. Once I’ve got a coffee, I crack on with checking my emails, noting any new deadlines in my to-do list and doing any quick tasks which have popped up overnight. I will then get on with whatever task is most urgent (or, if nothing is urgent, whatever task I’m most in the mood to do!).
The majority of my work is to do with prosecuting patent applications in various patent offices around the world. In each patent office, an Examiner will check whether or not the application fulfils the requirements for being allowed, often citing documents to support their arguments. Our job is to review their arguments and the documents cited, decide whether the arguments have merit, and then either amend the application or argue that the Examiner is incorrect.
Aside from prosecuting patent applications, I also work on cases in which a patent has been opposed by a third party after it has been granted. This is generally a bigger job than prosecuting a patent, with more documents being cited and more arguments to consider. I am also involved in drafting some patent applications.
At Dehns, many of the attorneys will eat lunch together at around 1pm, which is a nice break in the day. Sometimes, a group of us will go for a run at lunch. Apart from that, unless I have a client call or a meeting with a supervisor, I am free to arrange my time and my work however I like. For me, this is a big advantage: I am not a fan of being micro-managed.
As I get in relatively early, I will often leave the office relatively early (between 4 and 5pm), although if there’s more work to do or an urgent deadline, I’ll stay a bit later to get it done.
What do you enjoy most about your role?
So much! I think my favourite thing at the moment is being in a job where I am learning and improving all the time. I knew next to nothing about the legal side of patents when I joined, so there was a very steep learning curve, but everyone at Dehns puts in a lot of effort to teach me and help me along the way, and it’s very satisfying to look back at the last year and see how much knowledge I have gained.
I also love the variety of the work. I can spend my morning prosecuting a patent application for an anti-cancer drug, draft an application to a battery at lunch, and review an opposition on films for food packaging in the afternoon. For me, it is the perfect balance of taking advantage of my knowledge of Chemistry without being stuck working on the same topic for years on end. Many of the topics I look at aren’t areas which I have studied in depth previously, but I really enjoy the challenge of starting the day with little knowledge on a subject, and ending the day being able to discuss confidently how a development differs from what is known in the field.