I studied electronics at University and then I started work at a Nortel Networks, a telecommunications company in Essex as a graduate engineer in their R&D division. After a few years, I left Nortel to work for a start-up engineering company in Cambridge, UK. When this company ran out of money, I was out of a job. It was at this point that I wondered whether engineering was really for me. So, I started to look at other opportunities, but teaching was really the only thing I could think of that didn’t mean “throwing away” all the studying I had already done. However, I wasn’t sure handling 30 kids on a day-to-day basis was really my thing.

Luckily enough, a friend of mine, now a partner in a London law firm, had just started training as a patent attorney. He suggested it might be something that would suit me, as I would be learning something new, but not starting completely afresh. It sounded ideal, so, I applied for some trainee positions and managed to get a role at a small firm in Cambridge. I took to it like a fish to water, as it combined my engineering experience with a high level of language and communication skills; something I have always been good at. Indeed, English and law were both topics I had a real interest in at school.

A few years later I qualified and a couple of years after that, I moved in-house to ARM (a technology company) in Cambridge and I loved it, staying for 10 years. After growing the IP team at ARM, I have since gone back into a private practice role with a firm called Scintilla IP. I opened Scintilla’s first office in Manchester and together with the Glasgow team, I’m now growing that new practice, including hiring new staff and winning new clients locally and nationally.

Patent Attorney / Scintilla IP

Last Updated: October 31, 2024