Trainee Trade Mark Attorney
Liverpool, GB
Taylor Wessing
Taylor Wessing is a global law firm that serves the world's most innovative people and businesses. Deeply embedded within our sectors, we work closely together with our clients to crack complex problems, enabling ideas and aspirations to thrive. Together we challenge expectation and create extraordinary results. By shaping the conversation in our sectors, we enable our clients to unlock growth, protect innovation and accelerate ambition. With 1000+ lawyers, 300+ partners, 29 offices and 17 jurisdictions we are looking to expand our Technology, IP and Information team, with the addition of a Trainee Trade Mark Attorney.
Meet the team
Our 150-strong international Intellectual Property/Information Technology group is one of the most highly respected around the world. Due to the strength and depth of our expertise, Taylor Wessing has an outstanding reputation in the field of IP and IT. The team advises global clients on a wide range of IP issues through the full lifecycle of a business, and across a large variety of matters – from trade marks and designs registration, high profile licensing arrangements, regulatory advice, to representation in patent litigation and advice on patent transactions and other technology related matters.
Our international Trade Marks and Designs team is not just one of the largest practices of its type, it is also among the top rated, with a major international filing practice that is strategically core to the firm. This, together with the variety of the brands we represent across all business sectors, means that we have outstanding experience in every area of trade mark and design law. By integrating all aspects of trade mark and design practice into one team, we provide a full IP service, advising not just on clearance, prosecution and portfolio management, but also anticipating and handling litigation. Advising clients ranging from those with extensive international portfolios to SMEs and start-ups, we have an excellent track record in successfully resolving high-profile and complex brand disputes throughout Europe and Asia.
The brand protection team consists of both fee earners and paralegals located in Liverpool and London. This role would be based in Liverpool.
The opportunity for you
The successful candidate will work as part of the wider trade mark team. Principal responsibilities will include but not be limited to (click link below to review full job description):
- Working alongside partners and associates, with support from paralegals and our formalities team, to support clients' international trade mark portfolios.
- Advising clients on registrability of trade marks and recommending cost-effective registration strategies.
- Conducting and advising on trade mark clearance and other searches, using appropriate online tools and through search agents.
- Trade mark and design filing and prosecuting trade marks on a worldwide basis, including the UK, EU and Madrid system, including handling straightforward matters on a file manager basis such as drafting specifications, reporting office actions to client, responding to office actions and maintaining the associated deadlines, preparing and sending out instructions to foreign associates, receiving and reviewing advice from foreign associates and reporting the same to clients.
- Gathering and presenting witness statement evidence to show acquired distinctiveness, reputation or for infringement purposes.
- Assisting on UKIPO, EUIPO and foreign oppositions and registry cancellation and revocation actions.
- Drafting legal submissions for UKIPO or EUIPO proceedings and handling UKIPO hearings.
Knowledge, skills and experience
The role is intended to be a trainee UK trade mark attorney role. We are looking for a candidate to work initially under the supervision of others in the team, but with increasing autonomy and responsibility over time to assist in managing client portfolios in a wide range of industry sectors.
A 2:2 undergraduate degree and/or a number of years' work experience within the profession, for example as a paralegal is essential. Some experience of handling cases at the UKIPO and EUIPO could be useful but is not essential. The following skills are required:
- Good oral and written communication and advocacy skills
- Strong attention to detail and accuracy in work
- Strong academics and technical ability
- Well organised and ability to prioritise and manage own workload
- Enthusiastic about brands and self-motivated
- Commercially astute and practical
- Ability to quickly engender trust and rapport with the rest of the team and many different types of clients
Benefits
Here are a select few benefits that Taylor Wessing offer;
- Hybrid working (Offering the opportunity to work remotely, while maintaining a social boundary by working from our award-winning offices for 3 days a week)
- Holiday (Our basic annual holiday entitlement starts at 25 days, with a further discretionary day of paid leave in December. You may also purchase up to five extra days each year (pro rata).
- Enhanced Maternity and Paternity leave (After one-year service, you are entitled to up to 26 weeks leave full pay if you or your partner give birth or adopt a child).
Along with these there are many more benefits we offer, with the addition of a comprehensive flexible benefits package available.
Our culture
Nurturing a diverse, inclusive culture allows all of our talent to flourish, sparks creativity and powers innovation. We continue to build a team that exemplifies inclusivity and reflects the firm's core values: creative, excellence, integrity, responsible, respect and team. We value and celebrate the differences in who we are, what we have experienced and how we think, so all candidates will be treated fairly regardless of age, caring responsibilities, disability, gender identity, marital status, neurodiversity, pregnancy, race, religion or belief, sex, sexual orientation and socio-economic background.
The way we work
At Taylor Wessing, we never settle for average. We're creative thinkers, problem solvers and continuous learners who excel at what we do and believe our best work is still ahead of us. We are a firm that's large enough for you to achieve your ambitions, but connected enough to be a true community.
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