Much of the learning can only be achieved by personal study and experiencing the daily work. We recommend that new Trainees establish the habit of regular study to become fully familiar with various pieces of law. Learning can be guided or assessed by attempting questions from past exam papers.
Patent Attorneys qualify through a series of examinations. The firm sends Patent Trainees on a post-graduate certificate course in intellectual property run virtually by Bournemouth University. Trainees usually attend within their first year with the firm.
To qualify fully, Patent Trainees must then pass the UK Institute Final Exams and the European Qualifying Exams. Unfortunately, these are tough and have a low pass rate. However, we have a good record here of preparing people for the exams and most of our Trainees pass at their first or second attempt.
The exams are modular so candidates only need to sit individual papers in any retakes. After UK qualification, a further litigation skills course is required to remain on the register as a UK Chartered Patent Attorney.
The course must be taken within three years of entering onto this register (usually just after passing the UK Final Exams). We typically send our newly-qualified Attorneys on a litigation skills course run by the UK Chartered Institute. This course includes an online learning element (about 30- 40 hours) and a residential weekend course followed by written and oral assessment.
As a firm, we know that the exams are difficult and have a low pass rate. We place more emphasis on doing good work than purely on exams; so we accept that people may not pass all of the exams at first sitting. That said, passing the exams and becoming a qualified Attorney is a necessity before you can work independently so we do require all of our Trainees to work towards full qualification both UK and European.
Our in-house training scheme involves tutorials about once per month with all of the Trainees from a given year. The tutorials are run by Partners or qualified Attorneys here and include preparation for qualifying exams and also sessions about professional practice and the internal workings of the firm.
In addition, Trainees may also attend various external tutorials. Trainees are expected to avail themselves of all training opportunities made available to them. The firm pays for all reasonable training costs in accordance with our various policies.
