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Where science, technology and business meet

Marks & Clerk is recognised as one of the best intellectual property firms in the world, advising a broad range of clients on how to protect their ground breaking technologies and innovations.

Regularly nominated for awards, we often achieve top rankings in legal directories and surveys. Our patent trainees also frequently win prizes for achieving the highest marks for their exams.

Our international coverage is extensive with a network of offices across Europe, Asia and North America. With patent and trade mark attorneys working closely with our associated solicitor firm, we provide a comprehensive range of intellectual property services to a variety of clients, from multinational corporations to the latest start-up ventures, in all sectors worldwide.

For our trainees, this provides exciting opportunities to work with a fantastic range of clients and a supportive network of colleagues with vast experience across the sciences.

Our people enjoy excellent remuneration, benchmarked against the IP industry, along with a range of benefits, career development opportunities and social activities.

How to apply

A career as a patent attorney

Patent attorneys provide an essential interface between science, commerce and the law.

You will work at the forefront of technology, across many different scientific fields, helping clients make the most of their inventions and grow their businesses.

The role of a patent attorney is varied, working with a fantastic range of clients to secure patent protection, locally and globally. This involves regular client interaction, scoping inventions and determining how the client can use them to gain a strategic advantage in their sector.

Patent attorneys help their clients develop patent strategies to meet their commercial objectives. They often advise at the development stage, to avoid clients infringing competitors' rights. They also support commercial transactions and advise on the strength of patent portfolios.

The role also sees them acting as advocates in hearings, oppositions and appeals that arise as part of the patent applications process. Patent attorneys provide risk assessments and, where a client is accused of infringement, they assist with their defence. They also work closely with solicitors and barristers in enforcing and revoking patents before the courts.

Trainee attorneys work alongside a supervising Partner to develop the skills needed for this challenging but rewarding role. The supervisor is responsible for day-to-day training. However, trainees also receive work and learn from a variety of attorneys and Partners, so that they can develop different skills and working styles. Regular and constructive feedback, combined with a structured programme of learning from our Training Academy, is how our trainees become accomplished patent attorneys.

Read on to hear about how our well-established Training Academy can help you achieve a rewarding career in intellectual property.

More about our Training Academy

Practice areas

Upon joining the firm, you will work within one of three practice areas: Software and Electronics, Chemistry and Life Sciences, or Engineering and Physics. Depending on your academic background, you may have the opportunity to work across more than one area. Whichever field you are working in, you will make a real contribution to interesting, often challenging, and rewarding work.

Software & Electronics

M&C has one of the largest software and electronics teams in Europe and we are the leading firm in Europe for artificial intelligence. Our expertise enables us to work with world-class clients across a range of digital technologies, such as quantum computing. Our team includes academic backgrounds in neural networks and automated reasoning, bioelectronics and organic electronics, semiconductors and many more. This enables you to learn from experts and work on ground breaking technology.

Photo: people working at computers
Photo: David Robinson

David Robinson

Partner
Software & Electronics
"After completing a PhD in computer science, I wanted a career that would allow me to continue to be involved in technology and apply the knowledge I obtained throughout university. I stumbled across the patent profession and realised that it would allow me to stay involved with cutting-edge technology and continue to develop new skills and knowledge. One of the best parts of my job is that I get to see and learn about an incredibly wide range of technology. My practice ranges from new machine learning algorithms developed by world-leading researchers, software to improve mobile phone cameras, algorithms that save lives and modelling to allow surgical planning by robots!"

Chemistry & Life Sciences

The chemistry and life sciences team at M&C is one of the largest in the UK and prides itself on its teamwork and collegiality. The team works across all areas of chemistry and life sciences, including pharmaceuticals, biotechnology, agritech, polymers, food and drink, paint, nanomaterials, fuel cells, and oil and gas. Our clients include a significant number of well-known corporates, as well as SMEs and universities. Our team usually works directly with our clients' in-house IP teams and/or research teams, and regularly works alongside our solicitor colleagues.

Photo: laboratory bench
Photo: Kirsteen Gordon

Kirsteen Gordon

Partner
Chemistry & Life Sciences lead

"As a trainee and associate attorney, I really enjoyed learning how to apply the law to real life situations and developing relationships with lots of different clients. The camaraderie of being part of a large group of trainees and associates was fantastic and I made some great friends. Now I am a Partner, I enjoy seeing trainees and attorneys whom I have trained or mentored doing great work and building client relationships of their own. I'd particularly like to help encourage and motivate young women entering the profession today to strive to reach the top."

Engineering & Physics

The engineering and physics team encompasses a wide range of technologies, from simple mechanics to relativistic physics. The team is integrated across our UK offices, giving us flexibility to match attorneys to clients based upon interests and technological expertise. Our clients operate in technology sectors such as oil and gas discovery and extraction, brewing and bottling, optical sensing systems for mobile phone sensors, internal combustion engines, industrial assembly, and lithographic systems. Our team has leading expertise in the protection of inventions relating to additive manufacturing (3D printing), and is at the forefront of the transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy.

Photo: 3d printer
Photo: Peter Roberts

Peter Roberts

Partner
Engineering & Physics lead
"There are few careers where you can learn continuously about new inventions, over a broad spectrum of technologies. Recently I've worked on: proximity sensors used in mobile phones, a radial flow turbine, a supercontinuum radiation source used for lithography applications, and a bottle processing system. Personally, my favourite aspect of the job is meeting new clients and learning all about their technology and the challenges they face."

How do I qualify as a patent attorney?

Firstly, and importantly, you will need to have a STEM degree. This is a regulatory requirement in order to sit patent examinations.

UK qualification

The UK qualification involves sitting five foundation examinations and four final examinations. Study towards the qualification consists of attending in-house tutorials under the supervision of our Training Academy, as well as some external courses.

Unlike some other IP firms, we do not send our trainees on university courses for the foundation level qualification. We believe our internally-run tutorials and sitting the foundation exams set people up better for the final examinations. The success of our internal training is evidenced by our higher than average pass rates. Additionally, our trainees frequently win prizes for achieving some of the highest marks.

The Chartered Institute of Patent Attorneys (CIPA) provides more information about the UK examinations.

Within three years of UK qualification, attorneys also complete a litigation skills course. This course is run by an external training provider at one of our UK offices, over a period of four days, with an examination at the end.

European qualification

The European qualification consists of a pre-examination followed by four examination papers, which are sat the following year. You need to have two years' professional experience to sit the European examinations.

The European Patent Office (EPO) provides further information about the European examinations.

It typically takes 4-6 years to become UK and European qualified, known as 'Dual Qualification'. By this time you will have the skills and experience to take on much more responsibility with more autonomy, but remain confident that you have the support of our Partners and other experienced attorneys if needed.

Photo: Ed Carter

Trainee profile

Ed Carter

Ed joined M&C in January 2021 in our Cambridge office. Ed works in our Software & Electronics practice area, having completed a Physics PhD at Cambridge University.

What does your role involve?

"As a trainee, my primary role is handling correspondence with patent offices that have objected to our clients’ patent applications. This means understanding the invention and the objection, then either explaining why the objection isn’t justified, or amending the application to overcome it. I see it as puzzle solving and it’s always a satisfying intellectual challenge, no matter what the invention actually is.
"I am also beginning to gain experience with writing patent applications. This involves speaking to clients, understanding what they’ve invented, and figuring out how to write down the essential features of the invention in a precise and exact way. It’s very fulfilling to see an application that I wrote progressing through the stages to a granted patent."

Here are some things that we look for:

Natural curiosity to find out how things work

Meticulous attention to detail

Ability to explain scientific concepts in simple and clear terms

Excellent analytical and problem solving ability

Excellent organisation skills

Ability to work both independently and as part of a team

Benefits

The types of benefits we offer include:

Competitive salary

26 days' holiday, plus bank holidays

Competitive contributory pension scheme

Private medical insurance*

Flexible & hybrid working opportunities

GP service

Life assurance

Permanent health insurance*

Cycle to work scheme

Season ticket loans

Gymflex scheme

Employee assistance programme

* after 12 months

Find out more & apply

 

Community

Diversity & Inclusion

Having a diverse workforce is important to us. We were one of the first signatories of IP Inclusive, which promotes and improves diversity, equality and inclusion within the IP industry. We actively work with universities and national diversity initiatives to encourage graduates from a wider range of social backgrounds and ethnicities to apply for roles in IP. We are also members of WISE, promoting STEM roles to women.

Charity

Through our charity matching scheme, we raise thousands of pounds for charity each year. Colleagues have done everything from triathlons, walks and baking, to cycling from Lands' End to John O'Groats. In 2018, we raised £15,000 for Save the Children and in 2021 we supported Macmillan via their Games Night initiative. In 2022 we have raised over £14,000 for the DEC Ukraine appeal.

Environment

We are a paperless environment and we have reduced our use of plastic by installing water taps and removing plastic cups. We minimise our carbon footprint through the use of video conferencing to reduce the need to travel for meetings. Where travel is required, public transport is preferred, and we offer a cycle to work scheme. We are proud to work with a range of clients on renewable energy technologies.

Wellbeing

Our Employee Assistance Programme provides access to confidential support. We have an intranet wellbeing hub and Mental First Aiders in each office and for the Academy. We actively participate in initiatives such as World Mental Health Day and work with mental health charity Mind to enhance our approach to wellbeing support. In 2021 we launched our 'Let's Get Social' initiative, inviting employees across the UK to join together virtually for activities such as book clubs, yoga, cooking and art lessons.