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Rob is a Chartered and European Patent Attorney. He is a Patent Attorney Litigator, having acted before IPEC and the Patents Court, and a UPC Representative.

Rob formed and chairs CIPA’s UPC Committee, and has appeared before the UPC, including the Oral Hearing of the first case to be filed at the Paris Central Division, and before its Court of Appeal. Rob’s background is in physics and he is also experienced in patent prosecution and contentious matters before both the IPO and EPO.

Debbie is a Senior Patent Attorney at Granta IP Services Ltd. She is a member of Council and Chair of the Education Committee. She is a Co-Editor of the Patents Training Manual and currently working on the development and delivery of the Advanced Patent Paralegal Course.

Michael works together with attorneys, intellectual property firms and departments around the world to help them realize their business development goals. He has specialized in delivering business opportunities in the IP legal field with both clients and associates around the world since 2003, establishing BDforIP in 2015. He has a proven track record in international sales, account management, and business development, as well as strong client-facing skills, experience at dealing at all levels of an organisation and identifying business opportunities.  Specialties: Business Development Mentorship / Client Retention / Client Growth / Soft Skills Training / Business Networking

Benni is a patent attorney working in private practice who advises both established businesses and early stage start-ups on how best to protect their intellectual property. His work to date includes developing patent drafting, prosecution and enforcement strategies for multi-national medical device, healthcare and aviation companies. He also assists trailblazing biotech, fintech and aerosol systems companies to create and develop well-rounded IP portfolios that support their business aims.

A particular area of Benni’s expertise is his ability to advise clients on how to protect software-based inventions, particularly in relation to patenting algorithms, software applications and machine learning processes. He frequently works with companies in the blockchain, distributed ledger and AI spaces, where cutting edge computer science meets healthcare, business and finance.

Lee Davies has been the Chief Executive of the Chartered Institute of Patent Attorneys (CIPA) since February 2012. Prior to this, Lee was the Deputy Chief Executive of the Institute for Learning (IfL), the professional body for further education teachers. Lee’s professional background is in engineering (mechanical services) and further education teaching. Lee has experience of the governance of professional bodies, having served as the President of the Chartered Institute of Plumbing and Heating Engineering (CIPHE) in 2011-12.
Lee says that such a varied career, from apprentice plumber to CEO of CIPA, via organisations such as the Highbury College in Portsmouth, the Workers’ Educational Association (WEA) and IfL, has left him a little confused about his professional identity. Lee now identifies as an ‘association leader’, although the concept of association leadership is, in Lee’s words, “woefully undervalued and little recognised in the UK”. Lee is a passionate advocate for the association sector and is President and Chair of the Institute of Association Leadership (IAL), where he leads the Chief Executives’ Forum.