When I was approaching my final year, I knew that I wanted a job outside of academia but I wasn’t ready to leave science and pursue a completely unrelated career path to my degree. I came across the concept of a patent attorney when attending a talk at university and immediately realised that the nature of the work and the challenges that it would provide, were exactly what I was looking for.
The demands of understanding new technologies quickly, communicating both legal and scientific arguments in a concise manner and switching between multiple pieces of work every day can be difficult to balance at first, but it is incredibly rewarding once you become settled into the job. However, one aspect that I did not consider when I joined Carpmaels & Ransford was the business side of professional services – maintaining strong client relationships is an important consideration, even as a trainee.
At Carpmaels & Ransford you are trusted to take on real cases from (literally) day one. Although this may seem daunting, it allows you to get to grips with tackling complex issues, in both science and intellectual property, from the start. You receive a lot of support from your supervisors (which are mainly senior associates and partners) and other trainees, making the transition to a professional job as smooth as possible. This includes a buddy system where you can freely ask more experienced trainees silly questions, creating a support network for new starters. The firm also arranges tutorials throughout your training to ensure you have the relevant background knowledge before taking exams, at both part-qualified and fully-qualified levels.
One of the main benefits of working here is that all staff are based in one London office which creates an invaluable collaborative atmosphere. Although the firm is fairly large, being on one site means we all know each other and it promotes a friendly working environment. My main surprise about Carpmaels & Ransford was the social life – some of my colleagues are now good friends and this is all down to the variety of social clubs and events offered by the firm. There are annual New Year and summer parties, a variety of sports teams, a book club, and even a bee club for our bee hives on the balcony!
