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Ben Micklewright is a Deputy Director in the Intellectual Property Office’s Tribunal. He has particular responsibility for running the Patents Tribunal and the Opinions service, and sits as an inter partes hearing officer.  Ben’s career at the IPO has spanned over 25 years, joining initially as a patent examiner working in computing technologies following a PhD in physics. He has had a varied career, working in the IPO’s policy and legal teams and leading patent examination teams, including the team responsible for examining patent applications in the computing field. For some years he was in charge of the recruitment of new patent examiners. More recently, Ben led the IPO’s Legal section, which involved, amongst other things, working with the IPO’s Transformation programme in developing new services.

Alex’s current practice focusses on oral advocacy at the European Patent Office (EPO), where he is highly sought-after in the automotive/power/electronics fields.  He is part of a revered team at Dehns having an in-depth knowledge of the opposition and appeal procedure, and has acted as lead advocate for well over a hundred cases before the TBA.  Alex is retained for his specialist and expert knowledge in the more complex and high profile cases, such as those involving co-pending litigation.

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, and contributing the UPC reports to the CIPA Journal.  His practice is now heavily focussed on contentious work including EPO oppositions and UPC litigation.

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 is an honorary professor at Queen Mary, University of London, where he teaches the Certificate and Masters courses aimed at trainee patent and trade mark attorneys.

Darren serves on the committee of IP Out, the LGBTQ+ community 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.

Jonathan is a partner at Beck Greener in London. He joined Beck Greener in 2009, having previously worked in-house for Dyson. His background is in physics, with a PhD in organic LED displays. Jonathan is a contributing author to the CIPA Black Book, the standard reference text for patent attorneys. He is a regular speaker and presenter.

Yelena is an experienced patent attorney with technical expertise across different fields of engineering, most particularly in information technology and software, telecommunications, and AI. Being qualified in the US and in Europe, Yelena practices in both jurisdictions, focusing on patent procurement and portfolio development for a diverse range of global clients. Using her knowledge of the different legal approaches employed on both sides of the Atlantic, Yelena provides a pragmatic advice and develops creative solutions enabling businesses to meet their commercial objectives.

Yelena currently serves on the Board of Directors of the American Intellectual Property Law Association (AIPLA) and is the Board liaison to the AIPLA international committees. She also is an active member of the Women in IP Group of the IP Inclusive Task Force.

Amanda Murphy, Ph.D., brings over 19 years of experience to her life sciences intellectual property practice. As a U.S. patent attorney practicing in London, Amanda focuses on developing patent filing and prosecution strategies tailored to clients’ worldwide business goals. Her practice includes patent application preparation and prosecution, pre-litigation portfolio and due diligence analyses, and contentious PTAB proceedings.