CIPA Student Induction Day 2025

Audience

Students

Programme & Speakers

Wednesday 26 February

• 09:30 - Coffee & Registration
• 10:00 - Welcome & Introduction

  Speakers

  

  Dr Bobby Mukherjee, CIPA Vice President, BAE Systems plc

  Dr Bobby Mukherjee, CIPA Vice President, BAE Systems plc

  Dr Bobby Mukherjee, Chief Counsel, IP & Technology Law – BAE Systems plc and Past President (2012-2014) of the IP Federation. He is the Chartered Institute of Patent Attorneys (CIPA) Vice-President, President-elect as of 1 January 2024. He previously served and currently sits on CIPA Council, and chaired the CIPA Internal Governance Committee in its formative stage.

  Bobby is a qualified UK and European patent attorney with over 28 years’ experience of IP gained in private practice and at BAE Systems plc. He is currently the Head of IP (2009 -) at BAE Systems plc (a FTSE 30 company), which has one of the largest in-house IP teams in the UK. During Bobby’s IP Federation Presidential term, Bobby played a prominent role, on behalf of Industry, in actively engaging with the Parliamentary stages of the UK IP Bill 2013-2014. This resulted in the UK IP Act 2014, with a positive outcome for Industry. He currently sits on the IP Federation Council and until recently, chaired the IP Federation Trade Working Group. On behalf of the IP Federation, he gave evidence in January 2023 on the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) IP provisions to the influential House of Commons International Trade Select Committee. As a direct result of the IP Federation’s diligent work to which Bobby significantly contributed since 2018, the UK is acceding to CPTPP on terms which do not threaten European Patent Convention membership, and which promote international harmonisation of patent laws, another long-standing IP Federation goal. This is a successful outcome for UK plc, and the wider UK patent profession.

  Bobby’s career has mostly been spent in the physics field, obtaining and defending patent protection for new products, processes and services globally. He gained a first degree in Natural Sciences (specialising in Physics) from Cambridge University in 1990, and then a Doctorate Degree (D.Phil.) on High Temperature Superconductors from Oxford University in 1995. He has published various research papers in leading Scientific Journals during that time, and during his work experience at the National Physical Laboratory.

  Bobby has been named a Corporate IP Star by Managing Intellectual Property every year since 2015.

  He received the Legal 500 UK individual of the Year 2019 award for IP. He has been listed on the IAM Strategy 300: World’s leading IP Strategists (2022 and 2023).

  In his spare time, Bobby enjoys spending time with friends and family, travelling, and closely following cricket.

• 10:10 - Introduction to CIPA

  Speakers

  

  Lee Davies, Chief Executive, CIPA

  Lee Davies, Chief Executive, CIPA

  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.

• 10:30 - Introduction to the CIPA Informals

  Speakers

  

  Sophie Knott, Murgitroyd

  Sophie Knott, Murgitroyd

  Sophie Knott joined the IP profession in 2022 and is the Welfare Officer for the CIPA Informals. Established during the Covid-19 pandemic, the Welfare Officer position is dedicated to raising awareness for mental health and wellbeing within the trainee patent attorney community.

  Sophie is supported by the Informals’ Wellbeing Working Group, and works closely with the mental health charity, Jonathan’s Voice. Together, they provide a wealth of mental health and wellbeing resources, including blog articles, webinars and monthly Wellbeing Coffee Clubs.

• 11:00 - Refreshment Break
• 11:20 - Introduction to CIPA EdCom and the UK Qualification System

  Speakers

  

  Debbie Slater, Prevayl Ltd

  Debbie Slater, Prevayl Ltd

  Debbie works as a patent attorney with Prevayl Ltd: a new company developing wearable technologies.  She is a member of the CIPA Council, vice chair of the CIPA education committee and co-Editor of the CIPA Patents Training Manual.

• 12:05 - Lunch Break
• 13:20 - Introduction to EPI and the European Qualification System

  Speakers

  

  Julia Gwilt, Appleyard Lees

  Julia Gwilt, Appleyard Lees

  Julia Gwilt is a partner at Appleyard Lees and specialises in software inventions.

  She has had a passion for training for over 15 years.  As one of the patent attorney members who established the Patent Examination Board (PEB), she oversaw the UK professional examinations for over six years until her term ended in 2020.  She is now chair of the epi Profession Education Committee which oversees training and other aspects of the EQE for trainee European patent attorneys.  Several members of the PEC have been heavily involved in the proposal for a new digital EQE.

• 14:05 - Mental Health and Wellbeing – Dealing with challenges during your training

  Speakers

  

  Darren Smyth, EIP Europe LLP

  Darren Smyth, EIP Europe LLP

  Darren Smyth is a UK and European Patent Attorney, and was the head of EIP’s chemistry practice group EIP Elements until 2023.  He now holds the position of Head of Knowledge, and is known as an authoritative commentator on IP issues, having been a regular contributor to the IPKat weblog and the Journal of Intellectual Property Law & Practice among others.

  Darren has a masters degree in chemistry and DPhil in synthetic organic chemistry from the University of Oxford, and worked in Japan for two years at the Tokyo Institute of Technology before entering the patent profession.  Darren speaks Japanese and Spanish, and is conversant with French, German and Russian.

  Darren is co-chair of IP Out, the LGBT+ networking group within the IP Inclusive initiative in the UK Intellectual Property professions, and was a speaker at its inaugural event.  He is the convenor of the EIPride group within EIP.

• 14:50 - Refreshments Break
• 15:20 - Introduction to IP Inclusive

  Speakers

  

  Andrea Brewster OBE, IP Inclusive

  Andrea Brewster OBE, IP Inclusive

  Andrea is a Chartered Patent Attorney and a former CIPA President. In the past she has served on the Institute’s governing Council and several of its committees.

  Before her retirement she was a partner in a small regional IP practice, Greaves Brewster LLP, of which she had been a co-founder.

  Andrea established IP Inclusive in 2015 to promote equality, diversity, inclusion (EDI) and wellbeing throughout the UK’s IP professions. Alongside many enthusiastic volunteers, she has developed the initiative into a well-connected and influential player in the IP sector. She became its first Lead Executive Officer in 2019.

   

• 16:00 - Panel session featuring recent student members and recently qualified members

  Speakers

  

  Sophie Knott, Murgitroyd

  Sophie Knott, Murgitroyd

  Sophie Knott joined the IP profession in 2022 and is the Welfare Officer for the CIPA Informals. Established during the Covid-19 pandemic, the Welfare Officer position is dedicated to raising awareness for mental health and wellbeing within the trainee patent attorney community.

  Sophie is supported by the Informals’ Wellbeing Working Group, and works closely with the mental health charity, Jonathan’s Voice. Together, they provide a wealth of mental health and wellbeing resources, including blog articles, webinars and monthly Wellbeing Coffee Clubs.

  

  Nickeal Sidhu, Elkington + Fife LLP

  Nickeal Sidhu, Elkington + Fife LLP

  Nickeal is currently a London Regional Social Secretary and has been on the Informals committee for two years. He joined Elkington and Fife in September 2021 and works in the electronics and mechanical group. Nickeal did the Queen Mary course in 2022 and sat the pre-EQE exam earlier this year.

  

  Erin Turner, Kilburn and Strode

  Erin Turner, Kilburn and Strode

  Erin has recently qualified as a UK and European Patent Attorney. She works at Kilburn and Strode with a focus on medical devices. Now Erin is fully qualified she will be stepping down from the Informals after three years of being on committee.

  

  Elinor Northey, Syngenta

  Elinor Northey, Syngenta

  Elinor has been serving as an in-house trainee at Syngenta since February 2023 and participated in the Queen Mary course within the same year. She holds an MChem with Industrial Experience from the University of Manchester and currently acts as the In-house Representative on the Informals Committee.
• 16:50 - Closing remarks

  Speakers

  

  Lee Davies, Chief Executive, CIPA

  Lee Davies, Chief Executive, CIPA

  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.

• 17:00 - Drinks Reception