1. Introduction by the CIPA President

1. Introduction by the CIPA President

Hello, and welcome to CIPA as you start your journey into training as a future patent attorney. Congratulations on joining a vibrant and international profession. I am very proud to be in this profession, and I hope that you will be too.

As a trainee you will be educated in all you need to know about the law and its practice and to advise your clients, whether you are in private practice or in industry. Helping your clients’ IP and business needs should be your aim throughout your career, as you work with inventive and creative people to maximise their IP rights.

During your time from new trainee to qualified attorney and beyond, and no matter who you work for or what type of clients you act for, CIPA will be there to guide, support and represent you. CIPA is your professional body. We are delighted to now have you as a member.

However, CIPA’s membership extends beyond the patent attorney profession. It now includes IP paralegals, IP solicitors and barristers, and judges, as well as IP professionals outside the UK. As one of those members, you will have the opportunity to help shape what the Institute does: its policies, its strategies, its impact and its services to members. CIPA, as a membership body, is governed by its members who serve on its Council, and by its many specialist Committees having senior practitioners to new recruits, which are instrumental in CIPA’s activities. CIPA membership has four key benefits. We capture them with the acronym

‘SILC’:

• Status: the title “Chartered Patent Attorney” (CPA) commands world-wide respect and trust: part of CIPA’s job is to protect and promote this reputation and ensure that high standards are maintained throughout the UK profession.
• Influence: CIPA regularly engages with law makers and policy makers both at home and abroad, speaking out for the UK profession and its clients. Its collective voice can be heard much louder and more powerfully than any individual attorney or firm. We know it makes a difference.
• Learning: both during your training and after qualification, you will need access to good quality, cost-effective and properly tailored training resources, to allow you to develop and maintain high professional standards. CIPA will help you: it delivers training events, textbooks and training manuals, professional guidance and constant updates and analyses on matters of interest to the IP attorney. By professionals, for professionals.
• Community: perhaps most important, CIPA provides a community for you to feel part of. Ours is a small profession, but its members respect and support one another. They share resources and expertise (and fun) for the greater good. CIPA is the focal point around which that community is built, and the reason it continues to thrive.

The Informals should give you your first chance to feel part of the CIPA community. It is where you will receive guidance and support (and friendships) during the early part of your career. The Informals will provide you with training resources: exam tutorials, lectures and seminars as well as organising social events that allow you to meet, and share experiences with, others in your position. Please get involved with the Informals and please participate in the activities they run.

This handbook is just a part of what the Informals do for new entrants to the profession. Here you will find valuable information to get you started. It reflects the warmth of the welcome you will receive from the Informals, and indeed from all CIPA colleagues. I was Honoray Secretary of the Informals many years ago and am extremely grateful to all the people who have worked so hard to put it together. I hope that one day, you too will feel able to contribute to the CIPA community.

The work of a patent attorney is rewarding but not always plain sailing not. The environment we operate in presents us with interesting (and exciting) challenges, from the practical to the political. Emerging policies from governments at home and abroad often impact on our work and that of our innovative clients. CIPA is here to help you meet your professional challenges and to work in your interests to ensure the IP system is the very best it can be.

Last, but certainly not least, CIPA recognises that trainees come from many and varied backgrounds. Inclusivity is fundamental to CIPA’s activities, and we work (often with IP Inclusive) to make the IP community more equal, diverse and inclusive. I wish you every success in your career and look forward to working with you.

Finally, please remember the CIPA isn’t a faceless organisation. It is a collection of people, most of whom are volunteers, who work together to advance the interests of the UK patent attorney profession.  Feel free to get in touch with CIPA whenever you feel we can help or, even better, when you think you might be able to help.  Without the engagement of our members CIPA cannot do the many great things that it does.  It is those members that make CIPA – members just like you.

Simon Wright, CIPA President 2026