A typical working day for Roshan Patel, a Technical Assistant in the Chemistry Team.
“It’s rare that any two days are the same, which brings its own benefits and challenges. I usually spend the first half hour of each day checking my emails and to-do list to plan what I’m going to work on. Most days I’ll work on 1-3 cases, and the tasks vary widely in length and substance. Here is a recent example of a ‘typical’ day:
9:00:
- Check emails and my to-do list before planning my day.
- I also have a daily “Prompt List”, which lays out the upcoming events and deadlines for each case which I use to make a high-level plan for the week.
9:30:
- Consolidate research notes from the previous day in preparation for a meeting about a client’s synthesis methods. As a trainee you will often be given lots of research tasks as we’re often the most familiar with the science. I will then meet with a partner to discuss arguments to demonstrate the inventiveness of a client’s method, but also how we would attack that argument if we were an opponent.
11:00:
- Tutorial support about the opposition procedure at the EPO (European Patent Office). These sessions are very interesting, since there is almost always more than one right (or wrong) approach, so it’s great fun to see what ideas the other trainees have come up with and discuss them as a group.
12:00:
- I usually grab lunch around this time often outside on the roof terrace if the weather permits.
13:00:
- After lunch I review comments from an EPO examiner and prepare arguments for novelty objections.
16:00:
- I meet with a senior associate to discuss the best strategy to respond to objections in Japan and Korea. Lots of creative thinking is involved in these situations to ensure that we are strategically aligned in all the relevant countries, particularly as different countries’ rules and procedures may vary wildly from the EPO’s approach.
17:00:
- From time to time, I’ll stay later to finish off a piece of work or join in with one of the after-work clubs.
