In this blog post for Summer of IP 2026, Kadija Begum shares her experience of meeting an IP professional for a one-to-one chat as part of our Coffee Dates scheme.
Kadija writes:
I had a coffee date with Sally Bovill, a patent attorney at Reckitt. The conversation felt very natural and relaxed, which made it easy to ask questions and learn from her experiences. I felt that Sally could really empathise with the challenges of trying to break into intellectual property, particularly coming from a chemistry background.
She spoke about her own journey into the profession and explained that she first discovered patent law after attending a university careers talk. It was reassuring to hear that many patent attorneys do not necessarily know about the profession until later in their studies.
Sally also shared valuable interview advice and talked me through the types of questions candidates may be asked. One example was explaining how a helicopter works, despite it having no connection to her chemistry degree. We discussed how the purpose of questions like these is not to test whether you know the correct answer, but to assess how you think through a problem and communicate your reasoning clearly.
Towards the end of the meeting, Sally kindly reviewed my CV. Her feedback helped me improve my CV to be consistent and cohesive throughout and the points raised reinforced the importance of precision and attention to detail in the patent profession. She also commented on how receptive I was to feedback, explaining that this is an important quality for a trainee patent attorney, as the early years of training involve heavy supervision and learning from more experienced colleagues.
Overall, this coffee date was both insightful and encouraging. It gave me a clearer understanding of what firms look for during the recruitment process, highlighted the importance of clear communication and attention to detail, and gave me useful feedback that I can apply to future applications. It also reinforced my enthusiasm for pursuing a career as a patent attorney.
A huge thank you to Careers In Ideas for arranging this coffee date, and to Sally for sharing her experience with me.
Last Updated: August 12, 2026