To succeed in the IP profession, you need to combine a diverse range of skills: technical, legal and commercial. In addition, you need to be able to grasp new ideas quickly and communicate them succinctly. You need to have an eye for detail while still being able to see the bigger picture. You need to be able to argue in order to persuade and you need to be able to listen in order to understand.
It sounds like a lot and it is. However, at Boult Wade Tennant, you’ve got a head start. You’ll be trained by one of the largest and most respected patent and trade mark firms in Europe; one that is renowned for the quality of its training programme. We will equip you with the skills you need to be an outstanding patent or trade mark attorney and help you take your first steps towards fulfilling your career ambitions.
We are looking for people with an impressive academic record, excellent potential, the right personal qualities, and a commitment to excellence.
When you decide which firm you want to join, you must consider more than just the starting salary or the office location. You need to look a little deeper at the training programme, the support that is offered, exam success rates and how the firm intends to develop your skills throughout your career.
At Boult Wade Tennant we invest in our trainees. We have a structured programme of tuition aimed at helping you fulfil your potential. You will be learning from the best in our profession.
As you progress through the formative stages of your career in the world of IP, you will be part of a peer group who are on the same learning curve as you and who are experiencing the same new and exciting challenges as you are.
For patent trainees, you should expect your first year to involve largely on-the-job training with real client-facing work from day one. You will work alongside your supervisor on real cases, with an emphasis on prosecuting patent applications through to grant. We pay for patent trainees, normally in their second year, to take the four-month long Queen Mary University of London Certificate in IP law and provide all that time out of the office so that our trainees can focus on those studies. Then in the third and fourth years, our patent trainees take their finals examinations. Preparation is undertaken alongside real work, and includes residential courses as well as a programme of internal tutorials. There is no fixed timetable for taking the finals papers so there is flexibility to suit the individual. It takes at least 3½ years to qualify as a patent attorney and most of our trainees qualify within 5 years.
For trade mark trainees, you should also expect your first year to involve largely on-the-job training; you will work alongside your supervisor on real client-facing work from day one. After at least a year, we pay for our trade mark trainees to take a Postgraduate Certificate in Trade Mark Law at Queen Mary University of London.
This is delivered in a two-week intensive stint in September, followed by two-day courses every few weeks until April. You will apply what you learn whilst undertaking real client work the remainder of the time. Subsequently, we pay for our trade mark trainees to take the Professional Certificate in Trade Mark Practice at Nottingham Trent University.
This course is delivered in intensive spells of a few days every four to six weeks from October to July.
Successful completion of this course leads to qualification as a trade mark attorney. It normally takes 3 to 4 years to qualify as a trade mark attorney.
We also ensure your development is well rounded; it is not all about just intellectual property. We help our trainees understand the basics of good business practice and about client care. We will introduce you to professional ethics, associated best practices and put what you are learning about into a commercial context. We encourage all of our trainees to focus on soft skills, networking and languages. Our aim is to help you be the best possible attorney you can be; we want you to succeed. You can be assured that if you are struggling with an area, whether that is in intellectual property or other professional skills, we will help and support you in order that you can succeed.
To be considered for a place on our training programme, you will need at least:
For international students, we will expect the equivalent national qualifications.
