Trade Mark Lawyer/Attorney

Permanent, Full Time

On-site (London/Hybrid Working)

We are a leading European intellectual property firm, advising some of the world’s most innovative and successful companies. Together, we help to improve lives by supporting innovation.

We hire talented and passionate people who think creatively and enjoy a challenge. Working collaboratively, we share our knowledge and experience across teams, actively learning from each other in a friendly and sociable environment.

We are passionate about creating a diverse and inclusive workplace. Diversity of thought is vital to our business; it’s how we approach challenges differently and offer our clients creative and original solutions. Through our work with organisations such as IP Inclusive, Stonewall and Business in the Community via the Race at Work Charter, we are putting the right steps in place to make sure that all our people feel supported and empowered to be themselves Further information on our commitment to diversity and inclusion is available on our website.

A healthy work/life balance is very important to us, and we run regular wellbeing events in addition to a number of clubs and social activities that are available to everyone at the firm. We are also enthusiastic supporters of our local community through partnerships with the Social Mobility Foundation and Holborn Community Association.

The role

We are building our highly regarded Trade Mark team to service the firm’s prestigious and growing client base. As a result, we are offering an opportunity for an experienced Trade Mark Attorney or Solicitor with significant trade mark experience. At Carpmaels, we do not distinguish between the two professions in terms of work type, responsibility or remuneration.

What you’ll be doing

The work of our team of Trade Mark Attorneys and Solicitors encompasses the entire trade mark life cycle and we use our experience in enforcing our clients’ trade marks in court to add value to our advice in the vital early stages of adopting and protecting a brand.

The successful candidate will gain experience of our multi-faceted trade mark practice, encompassing our traditional prosecution and brand counselling business, our busy contentious practice alongside our Dispute Resolution team, and transactional/agreement work in collaboration with our Transactions team. The successful candidate will work with partners, lawyers and paralegals across these disciplines.

Skills and experience we’re looking for

The successful candidate will be:

• A qualified and experienced Trade Mark Attorney (5+ PQE) or a qualified Solicitor with comparable trade mark experience.

The successful candidate will have:

• A track record of academic excellence, strong performance in the qualifying examinations.
• Awareness and experience of the day-to-day work of a trade mark lawyer across the full spectrum of contentious and non-contentious work.
• An in-depth understanding of all aspects of trade mark law and practice at the UKIPO, EUIPO and WIPO, as well as a solid grasp of trade law and practice in other common, key jurisdictions. Experience of English court proceedings is highly desirable.
• Excellent interpersonal and communication skills with clients and colleagues. The ability to form and maintain relationships.
• A passion and aptitude for problem solving and research: intellectual curiosity

The willingness and ability to:

• Demonstrate substantive legal knowledge to provide strategic, balanced and complete advice in the client’s best interests.
• Identity and focus on important issues, even without comprehensive knowledge of the case.
• Lead cases with minimal Partner input but, crucially, know when to seek input from colleagues.
• Be the primary point of contact with clients and responsible for all aspects of the day-to-day client relationship including legal advice, budgeting/costs, awareness of the client’s business and identifying opportunities to develop the relationship.
• Supervise junior colleagues’ work to ensure that the final work product is high quality and fulfilling the client’s expectations, including delivering positive or constructive feedback in an appropriate manner.
• Identify opportunities to develop new business from existing clients or new clients and for the Trade Mark team or any other service lines offered by the firm.
• Support the Trade Mark group’s profile-raising activities, e.g. by attending appropriate conferences or networking events, contributing to articles and podcasts etc.
• Be a financial role model, including by diligently recording time, raising invoices in a timely manner and in accordance with client requirements, monitoring progress against fee estimates and ensuring junior colleagues do likewise.
• Efficiently manage your own and junior colleagues’ time and workloads such that a high-quality work product is delivered on time and on budget.
• Participate fully in the life of the Trade Mark group, e.g. by leading/participating in internal know-how sessions and knowledge sharing, contributing to training and upskilling of the group, identifying opportunities to improve practices and processes, and attending social events.

What we offer

We offer a competitive benefits package that currently includes the following:

- 25 days’ holiday (increasing by 1 day per year up to our maximum of 28 days). Our Senior Associates start on 28 days’ holiday from the outset.

- Employer pension contribution of 5% in your first year, with a minimum 3% employee contribution, increasing to 10% employer contribution after one year’s service.

- Holiday buy scheme, with the option to purchase up to 5 additional days.

- Holiday bonus, starting at £400 per year, increasing each year up to a maximum of £2,000.

- Private medical insurance via Bupa, where you’ll be eligible to join the month following your start date. You will also have the option to add dependants, subject to a monthly cost.

- Free confidential access to 24/7 medical, mental, legal and financial wellbeing support via Health Assured and WeCare from your first day of employment.

- Access to internal Mental Health First Aiders, all of whom have completed the Mental Health First Aid England accredited training programme and champion wellbeing across the firm.

- Life assurance of 4x your base salary.

- Income protection, with cover for up to 5 years and compensating for up to 75% of your base salary.

- Cycle2Work scheme.

- Season ticket loan.

- Access to Payroll Giving or Give As You Earn (GAYE) which allows you to donate to charity through your monthly pay.

- We’re passionate about the benefits of corporate volunteering and offer all employees 1 paid volunteer day per year.

We’re very proud of our collegiate culture and the value that working together brings. Through our commitment to enabling everyone to do their best work, we offer a range of family and life-friendly policies.

This includes competitive enhanced maternity, paternity, adoption, surrogacy and shared parental leave schemes, if you’ve been with us for at least 26 weeks. Furthermore, our fertility policy aims to assist employees with both the logistical and emotional aspects of undergoing fertility treatment. This includes paid leave of up to five days for fertility treatment.

We also recognise the needs of balancing home life around the requirements of your role. Depending on the work you do and your team, we offer informal arrangements such as hybrid and agile working, as well as more formal arrangements such as flexible hours and part-time working. We’re very happy to discuss flexible and life-friendly working options during the recruitment process and upon joining us.

We are proud of our inclusive culture where individual differences are celebrated, and we are committed to providing equal opportunities to all employees and job applicants. We do not tolerate discrimination either directly or indirectly on the basis of race, sex, sexual orientation, gender reassignment, religion or belief, marital or civil partnership status, age, disability, pregnancy and maternity, or any other characteristic protected by law. Our approach is embodied in our Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Policy, as well as our diversity and inclusion programmes.

Please note that we do not accept unsolicited CVs or speculative approaches from recruitment agencies unless they have been explicitly instructed on this vacancy by a member of our recruitment team.