We offer a supportive and sociable team-based working environment that provides you with everything from exceptional training to an opportunity to work with a diverse range of clients.
A typical working day for Harry, an Associate in the Chemistry Team.
8.30am - Arrive at work:
Check incoming emails from overnight, review my e-pigeonhole for new communications and check my prompts list for upcoming deadlines. Make a plan for what I want to get done for the day.
9.00am - Coffee:
Catch up with colleagues at the coffee area as they arrive into the office.
9:30am - Reporting/quick tasks:
Do some smaller reporting tasks, such as preparing reporting letters, responding to local attorneys in other jurisdictions, and uploading documents for filing at the EPO.
11:00am - Call with client:
Our weekly catch-up call with our client. We’ll discuss their outstanding deadlines, any ongoing projects, exciting new projects and work coming up, and discuss any questions outstanding from the week’s correspondence.
Midday - Lunch:
Meet other trainees in the top floor café (or on the roof terrace if the weather is nice) to have lunch and chat, followed by another all-important coffee.
1:00pm - SMF e-mentoring:
Read the most recent email from my SMF (Social Mobility Foundation) e-mentee, and reply with my advice on preparing a personal statement, university applications and the professional world.
1:30pm - Draft response:
Prepare a draft response to a communication from a patent office. This will involve reviewing the objections in the communication, the patent application, and some prior art citations, then preparing amended claims and a letter to the patent office responding to the objections. We’ll also need to explain to our client what we have done and why.
4:00pm - Meeting with supervisor:
Meet with a supervisor to review some work from a previous day, and hopefully get it sent out to the client. Some more work might be required though!
4:55pm - Billing:
Send my billing instructions to the accounts team, just in the nick of time.
5:00pm - Final tasks:
Finish off any outstanding tasks for the day, and prepare to head off home.
6:00pm - Head home:
Perhaps via the pub.
