Philip Cupitt is a patent attorney at Marks & Clerk whose work spans engineering, software, telecommunications, medical devices and artificial intelligence. From the value of rigorous patent searching to the evolving role of AI, Philip believes technology can enhance the profession, but human understanding, judgement and communication remain fundamental. Quick Profile Name: Philip CupittRole: Partner, […]
14th October 2026
Philip Cupitt is a patent attorney at Marks & Clerk whose work spans engineering, software, telecommunications, medical devices and artificial intelligence. From the value of rigorous patent searching to the evolving role of AI, Philip believes technology can enhance the profession, but human understanding, judgement and communication remain fundamental.
Quick Profile
Name:Philip Cupitt Role: Partner, Patent Attorney & UPC Representative Firm / organisation:Marks & Clerk Location: Birmingham, UK Areas of expertise: Patents, software, telecommunications, artificial intelligence, medical devices, electronics, mechanical engineering, standard essential patents, freedom to operate and EPO oppositions
Finding a career at the intersection of technology and law
Philip’s route into intellectual property was more accidental than planned. After completing his PhD in 2002, he was considering a range of career options when he came across a somewhat mysterious advertisement for a “graduate trainee”. The recruiter behind it was working on behalf of several patent attorney firms, and once Philip learned what the profession involved, it immediately appealed to two longstanding interests. “I obviously liked technology. I studied engineering and I’ve always been interested in technology, but I had also thought earlier about doing a law degree.” Patent law offered an opportunity to bring the two together.
More than two decades later, it is the constant exposure to new ideas that continues to make the profession interesting. Philip is fascinated by how things work, whether that means understanding software, an electrical product or a mechanical device, and patent work provides an almost endless supply of technologies to investigate. “There’s a never-ending flow of new technologies to learn about and understand.”
That breadth is particularly evident in his work across fields such as telecommunications and medical technology. His interest in the latter began early: Philip’s mother was a radiographer and explained radiography to him when he was young, while his PhD also had links to medicine. Telecommunications offers a different example of technological complexity. A device as familiar as a mobile phone brings together huge numbers of innovations and patents, from communications technologies to hardware. For Philip, gaining an understanding of what is happening behind technology that most of us simply take for granted remains one of the most rewarding aspects of the job.
Making patent advice understandable
Technical knowledge is only part of being an effective patent attorney. One of the biggest lessons Philip has learned during his career is the importance of communicating outside what he calls the “patent bubble”. Advice written in the language best suited to a patent office may make perfect sense to another attorney, but it may be far less useful to an inventor or business leader trying to make a commercial decision. “The key to everything is trying to explain things in a way that someone outside the patent bubble can understand.”
For Philip, clients should understand not only what their attorney is doing, but why. That means clearly explaining the available options and, where appropriate, being prepared to recommend a course of action rather than simply presenting a list of possibilities. He returns to this point when considering what distinguishes genuinely useful legal advice from advice that is technically excellent but difficult to apply. The best advice, he believes, should be easy for the client to understand and digest, and attorneys should also be prepared to “get off the fence” and say what they would do if they were in the client’s shoes. Ultimately, the purpose is to give clients enough clear information and guidance to make better decisions.
Why searching matters before decisions are made
Patent searching is one area where Philip sees considerable value in getting the right information at the right stage. For patentability, he believes businesses and inventors should understand the prior art before committing to the cost of filing and pursuing a patent application. Preparing an application is only the beginning of that investment: prosecution and, eventually, maintaining granted rights all have associated costs. A good understanding of the prior art can therefore help a business assess both the likely scope of protection and whether proceeding makes commercial sense.
It can also improve the resulting application. Once the relevant prior art is understood, an attorney can take it into account when drafting, which Philip believes can lead to a more focused application that is better prepared for examination and potential future challenges. Freedom to operate searching is equally important. “Businesses shouldn’t just launch products without having undertaken their due diligence to know what the patent risks are.” That applies not only to launching a new product, but also when taking an existing product into a new market. Identifying potential risks earlier can help a business make informed decisions rather than encounter an unwelcome problem after significant investment has already been made.
For Philip, however, the quality of a patent search cannot be measured simply by the number of documents returned. The searcher needs to understand the brief, the technology and where to look, and just as importantly, they need to recognise which results are genuinely relevant. “You can tell quite easily when looking at a patent search whether or not you think the searcher has understood what they’re looking for and looked in the right places.”
It is an area where he specifically values experienced search professionals. Philip says that when he asks PatWorld to carry out searches, he trusts the analysts to understand the brief, apply an appropriate strategy and surface the most relevant documents. That makes the results more useful because an attorney is not left working through large volumes of material with little relevance to the question being asked.
As search technology continues to develop, Philip also sees opportunities for AI to support experienced searchers, particularly when dealing with very large volumes of patent information or language barriers. However, he believes the human element remains central: understanding the invention, developing the right strategy and recognising what is genuinely relevant all depend on technical knowledge and professional judgement.
AI and the changing IP profession
Philip has been considering AI’s impact on the IP profession for several years. In 2019, he wrote about how the technology might develop, and one of the biggest changes since then has been the emergence of highly capable general-purpose AI tools.
He had expected much of the development to come through specialist patent-specific systems but has been surprised by how useful general-purpose tools can be in supporting aspects of patent work. That does not diminish the role of specialist technology; instead, it has broadened the range of tools available to professionals. Philip also highlights security as an increasingly important consideration when deciding which systems can appropriately be used for confidential work.
Looking ahead, Philip sees the most effective model as one in which AI supports professionals rather than replaces them.
“What I think is effective is to have humans being assisted by AI rather than being replaced by AI.”
AI may help reduce the time spent on certain tasks, allowing attorneys to focus more attention on judgement, strategy and client communication. For Philip, however, the human relationship remains fundamental: businesses are run by people, and the most meaningful interactions still come from people communicating directly with one another.
Protecting innovation in the age of AI
AI presents another challenge for Philip in his work: protecting AI-related inventions themselves. One difficulty is the age of the legal framework. UK and European patent law was developed at a time when today’s computing capabilities would have been difficult to imagine, and as a result Philip believes AI innovations can face obstacles to patent protection that do not necessarily apply in the same way to inventions in other technical fields.
He would like to see the law evolve, but recognises the difficulty of legislating for technology that is moving so quickly. Changes made today could themselves become outdated as AI develops. It is a delicate balance: creating a framework capable of protecting modern innovation without introducing hastily drafted rules that create fresh problems in the future.
Life beyond patents: family, guitars and rediscovering the 1980s
Away from work, family life takes priority. Philip enjoys spending time with his two children, whether that means taking them out, watching films together or simply playing video games. He has also been introducing his seven-year-old son to television from his own childhood, with Knight Rider among their recent choices. Philip admits that some elements have dated better than others, although the programme still holds up surprisingly well.
Music is another longstanding interest. Philip has played guitar for most of his life and, as his children have grown a little older, he has found more time to return to it. Rock and indie feature heavily, but his tastes are broadening again as he rediscovers music from his childhood, including some songs that might once have been considered embarrassing by his teenage self. “Wham is one example that I’m willing to admit to.” Listening again decades later, he has found that much of the music has stood the test of time.
His favourite guitar at the moment is a PRS, an instrument he had wanted since seeing one in a guitar-history book as a teenager. Earlier this year, he finally bought one.
Interestingly, Philip does not think being a guitarist has particularly changed how he approaches intellectual property. Instead, the influence has worked in the opposite direction: being a patent attorney has changed the way he looks at guitars. Patent records can reveal the stories behind familiar instruments and technology, including the inventors involved, the innovations that succeeded and those that did not. “It’s really intriguing to look at guitar technology through the lens of a patent attorney.” Philip is now working on a website that he hopes will eventually bring some of those stories together.
If money were no object, however, his dream instrument would have less to do with patent history and more to do with musical history. A guitar once owned by a member of The Beatles would be difficult to beat. For Philip, their importance lies not in individual virtuosity but in the enormous influence the band had on the music that followed.
Keeping judgement at the centre
Philip’s career may have begun almost by chance, but a consistent thread now runs through his work: curiosity about how things work and a determination to help people make sense of complexity. Whether the subject is a new invention, a patent search or the role of AI, his perspective remains grounded in the value of human understanding, using technology where it helps, while keeping judgement, communication and commercial insight at the centre of the process.
Meet the IP Professional is a PatWorld interview series exploring the people and perspectives shaping the intellectual property profession. Discover more interviews in theMeet the IP Professional hub, and find out more about PatWorld, a global IP search provider working with IP professionals worldwide to support informed patent, design and trade mark decisions, on ourAbout Us page.
Kay Szawlis is a Senior Trade Mark Paralegal at Springbird IP, with experience spanning patents, trade marks and different IP working environments. Her career offers an insight into the evolving role of the paralegal, the value of finding a workplace that fits your circumstances, and why a successful career in IP does not have to […]
7th October 2026
Kay Szawlis is a Senior Trade Mark Paralegal at Springbird IP, with experience spanning patents, trade marks and different IP working environments. Her career offers an insight into the evolving role of the paralegal, the value of finding a workplace that fits your circumstances, and why a successful career in IP does not have to follow the traditional attorney route.
Quick Profile
Name:Kay Szawlis Role: Senior Trade Mark Paralegal Firm / organisation:Springbird IP Location: UK Areas of expertise: Trade marks, brand protection, patents and wider IP rights
An unexpected route into IP
Kay originally thought her future lay in science. After studying biotechnology at university in Edinburgh, she realised that an academic career was not for her. A talk by a patent attorney introduced her to intellectual property and immediately caught her attention. Combining her scientific background with a different type of professional career seemed an interesting direction, and she went on to complete a postgraduate course.
Her first practical experience of IP came in a rather unconventional way. Pregnant after finishing her studies and with several months before her due date, Kay was determined to use the time productively. She worked her way through a directory of patent firms, contacting them one by one to ask whether they would give her some work experience. Eventually, Jensen & Son said yes.
Her first assignment involved researching filing requirements around the world for an international trade mark portfolio. It was a daunting introduction to the profession, but also the opportunity that gave Kay her start. She worked until two weeks before her daughter was born and later returned to the firm on a consultancy basis, allowing her to combine work with childcare. She stayed for almost four years and remains grateful to Derek Moore for giving her that first opportunity.
“That first job was crucial to get me in,” she says.
Building a career around changing priorities
As Kay’s family grew, so did her understanding of what she needed from her career. Over the following years, she gained experience in several different types of IP practice, from smaller firms to larger organisations. Each gave her valuable experience and helped her understand the working environment that suited her circumstances at that particular stage of life.
Family has always been a priority. When her children needed additional support and the commute started taking its toll on her mental health, flexibility became increasingly important. Kay knew she needed to find a way of developing her career while also being able to respond to the changing needs of her family.
That process eventually brought her to Springbird IP, then part of a larger solicitors’ firm. At the time, Kay worked alongside Laura West, now CEO of Springbird, and another paralegal as the department developed. She subsequently saw it grow and become a separate firm.
Being involved from those early stages created a sense of connection that has proved important to her. “There’s a sense of ownership,” she says. “There’s definitely a sense of identity and pride.”
Five years later, Springbird is the longest Kay has worked anywhere, and she has since had her third child. Home working, flexible hours and what she describes as “very human policies” give her the flexibility she needs at this stage of family life. It is an environment that fits both the career she has built and the life she has outside it.
Finding her place in trade marks
Kay’s career has given her experience across both patents and trade marks. Now focused entirely on trade marks at Springbird, she enjoys the pace and variety of the work, particularly the more unusual cases that require investigation and problem-solving.
“I enjoy quirks,” she says. “I enjoy getting down to the nitty gritty and figuring out, when there’s a problem, a solution to that problem.”
She also enjoys building relationships with clients and becoming genuinely interested in their businesses and brands. There is even a running joke at Springbird that Kay becomes a loyal customer of every new client they take on. For Kay, that connection is part of what makes the work so enjoyable: she genuinely likes the brands she works with and enjoys seeing what they are developing.
Her experience in patents has also given Kay a broader perspective on trade mark work. Having worked across different rights, Kay has come to appreciate how patents, trade marks, designs and copyright can complement one another as part of a wider commercial picture.
Understanding that broader context is important in her work, and it is something she continues to develop. Kay readily admits that she can become absorbed in the detail of a particular task, so she values colleagues who encourage her to step back and consider the bigger picture. For Kay, understanding how individual IP rights fit within a client’s wider commercial objectives helps give greater context to the work she does.
The evolving IP paralegal
For Kay, one of the most interesting aspects of the paralegal role is just how varied it can be. Responsibilities differ between firms, teams and individuals, making it difficult to separate changes across the profession from the natural development that comes with experience. What she has noticed, however, is greater recognition of the expertise that paralegals can bring.
“I think we are becoming more visible,” she says. “We are trusted more, we are given more responsibilities, and I quite like that.”
That visibility can also extend to client relationships. Kay now has opportunities to interact directly with clients and, through platforms such as LinkedIn, to engage with them as an individual as well as through her work. She enjoys that more personal side of the role and the relationships that can develop as a result.
Most importantly, Kay believes there is a growing understanding that being a paralegal can be a career in its own right. Becoming an attorney is one option, but it is not necessarily the end goal for everyone. Kay herself once expected to follow that route before realising that her ambitions had changed.
For those considering IP, she also sees the role as offering different ways to enter and progress within the profession. People do not necessarily need to arrive with every skill already in place. Knowledge can be developed through experience, while the variety of the role can build skills that are useful across different areas of work.
“You don’t have to have the full tool set straight from the start,” Kay says. “You can work your way up.” For Kay, that ability to learn and develop over time is one of the strengths of a paralegal career.
Trusting people to develop
For Kay, one of the most important ways firms can support paralegals is by recognising what they are capable of and giving them room to grow.
“Trust them, talk to them, understand them,” she says. “You hired them for a reason. They are competent.”
That can mean giving people ownership of their work, opportunities to tackle more complex tasks and the chance to learn from experienced colleagues. Just as importantly, Kay believes there should be honest conversations about what individuals want from their careers rather than assumptions about where their role should lead.
Her own development has benefited from colleagues who are willing to explain things. If an interesting legal question arises, Kay wants to understand the reasoning behind it, even when that knowledge is not strictly necessary for the task she is doing. She values working with people who welcome that curiosity.
It has helped her develop greater confidence too. Despite her experience, Kay admits that imposter syndrome can still surface in her professional life. Her response is to keep asking questions and accept that occasionally being wrong is simply part of learning.
“Don’t be afraid to make mistakes. Don’t be afraid to be wrong. Fact-check what you can and just keep talking. It’ll get easier and better.”
Outside the office
For all the importance Kay places on her career, she is equally clear that family comes first. She and her partner have three children, and spending time with them is her favourite way to switch off. Family trips often take them back to Poland, while skiing and snowboarding have become activities they enjoy together.
Sport features heavily in family life. Kay goes weightlifting with her daughter, while her two older children play rugby. Inevitably, she has become involved there too, handling administration for her son’s team and social media for her daughter’s. “Once an admin, always an admin,” she jokes.
Kay also has a habit of collecting hobbies. When she wants time to herself, she heads to the gym and is currently hoping to move into competitive powerlifting. For something quieter, she knits while listening to audiobooks, and when she needs an escape, there is always cycling.
It all reflects Kay’s enthusiasm for trying new things, whether at work or away from it.
A career path of your own
Kay’s career has developed very differently from the one she imagined when she first heard a patent attorney speak during her biotechnology degree. Experience across patents and trade marks, different working environments and changing family circumstances have helped her understand where her strengths lie and what she wants from her professional life.
Her story also reflects the breadth of opportunity within the IP paralegal profession. For some, it can be a route towards qualification; for others, it can become a fulfilling long-term career in its own right. Kay’s own path shows that careers can evolve as circumstances and ambitions change, and that continuing to ask questions, learn from others and remain open to new directions can be just as important as knowing exactly where you want to end up.
Meet the IP Professional is a PatWorld interview series exploring the people and perspectives shaping the intellectual property profession. Discover more interviews in the Meet the IP Professional hub, and find out more about PatWorld, a global IP search provider working with IP professionals worldwide to support informed patent, design and trade mark decisions, on our About Us page.
Helen Conlan is a Partner at Stephenson Harwood and an experienced IP litigator whose practice focuses primarily on patent disputes in the technology sector. She has built her career around a passion for technology, strong litigation instincts and a distinctly human approach to clients, colleagues and opponents. Quick Profile Name: Helen ConlanRole: PartnerFirm / organisation: […]
30th September 2026
Helen Conlan is a Partner at Stephenson Harwood and an experienced IP litigator whose practice focuses primarily on patent disputes in the technology sector. She has built her career around a passion for technology, strong litigation instincts and a distinctly human approach to clients, colleagues and opponents.
Quick Profile
Name:Helen Conlan Role: Partner Firm / organisation:Stephenson Harwood Location: London, UK Areas of expertise: Patent litigation, technology disputes, copyright, multi-jurisdictional litigation, mediation and emerging technologies, trade secrets and confidential information
Finding a route into patent litigation
Helen knew early in her legal career that contentious work appealed to her. She trained at Bird & Bird, where the strength of its intellectual property practice gave her the opportunity to explore IP litigation.
What makes her route into patent disputes slightly unusual is that she did not arrive with a STEM background.
“I always thought that I might want to be a litigator,” she explains. Initially, there was a thought that trade marks might be a natural fit, but patents quickly captured her attention. “The strategic aspects of global patent litigation were an immediate draw. I loved the challenge presented by the technical detail and saw that as a great vehicle for extended study.” That meant accepting there would be plenty to learn along the way. Helen still jokingly refers to the technical primers she reads as her “boring bedtime reading”.
After many years there, Helen moved on, and finally landed at Stephenson Harwood, taking the considerable experience gained within an established global patent litigation practice into a new adventure growing a patent litigation offering. “Being prepared to learn from others is important,” she says.
Understanding the technology
Today, Helen’s practice is largely technology focused. For her, doing the work to understand the technology behind a dispute is fundamental and part of the joy.
Once a case begins, she makes sure the whole team gets to grips with the subject. “We sit down and we have a teach-in,” she explains. That teaching might come from somebody within the legal team, the client or an academic with specialist knowledge. The aim is to establish the fundamentals before moving into greater technical detail.
“Never be afraid to ask. Never be afraid to address the simple things. Get the basics right first and then build from there.”
It is an approach she follows herself, despite her seniority. Patent litigation, she believes, does not require someone to know everything from the outset. What really matters is curiosity, a willingness to learn, the confidence to ask questions and an ability to apply what you learn to achieve a strategic objective.
Keeping the commercial objective in sight
The technology may fascinate Helen, but she is clear that litigation cannot be driven by a lawyer’s enthusiasm for the subject. “You do have to keep a lid on your own passions and enthusiasm for simply exploring the latest innovation on a given technology” she says.
Instead, the client’s commercial objective must remain central. That includes understanding the value of the dispute, the constraints on litigation spend and any critical objectives, such as getting a product to market or supporting a licensing programme.
“We’re a service business after all, and above all else we have to act in the best interests of our clients.”
Her role is then to determine “which buttons to press when and where” to help achieve those objectives.
This becomes particularly important in multi-jurisdictional disputes. Technology can move quickly, and lengthy litigation may make little commercial sense if the technology itself has a relatively short lifespan. In other cases, it may be critical to achieve an early judgment. It is an understanding that you must arrive at early on in a matter, to determine the legal strategy.
“We are also the custodians of our clients’ available budget on any given matter, so it is always important to set expectations and to manage the team efficiently – I’ve not met a client so far in my career who is content for us to do otherwise.”
Coordination without ego
The Unified Patent Court has made international coordination even more important.
Helen describes the UPC as “front and centre” of many conversations with clients. Its geographical reach, pace and cost can make it an important part of a wider litigation strategy.
As the court has developed, she has seen the jurisprudence evolve from addressing early procedural questions towards more substantive decisions on points of patent law. The UPC’s speed has also placed greater emphasis on efficiency and close coordination amongst advisors making up the legal team.
Her guiding principle for multidisciplinary and multi-jurisdictional teams is simple: “Leave your ego at home.”
“Everyone has something to bring to the table. Everyone will have a different experience and point of view, and they’re all valid.”
Rather than assuming how a dispute will unfold, Helen prefers to listen first. “Take a beat to just listen to everyone and to spend some time thinking rather than doing. Then, and only then, can you piece together a strategy that addresses your client’s particular needs.”
Why kindness has a place in litigation
Helen has been recognised in industry rankings for qualities including determination, confidence and problem solving. Yet one of the characteristics she talks about most passionately is kindness.
“I treat my opponents in the way I would expect to be treated,” she says. “We all have pressures, we all have deadlines, and sometimes things get squeezed.”
Approaching a case with kindness does not mean being any less committed to a client’s position. “What I want to see in an action is mutual respect for the position a party adopts, detailed consideration of the merits of that, and a reasoned pragmatic approach to finding a commercial solution. I will always fight my corner, but not simply for the sake of it.”
Constant outrage in litigation simply serves to reduce impact when something genuinely matters. “You don’t win any prizes (or cases) for being the angry litigator.”
Interestingly, Helen had once been on the opposite side of a major case from Eifion Morris, now Stephenson Harwood’s CEO. “We were opponents, but as it turned out, we’re now Partners,” she says. “So maybe that kind, considered approach to litigation does pay off.”
Building a practice around people
Helen’s career has not followed a completely conventional path. Some years after becoming a Partner, she took an extended period away from work when her son was born. “People thought that strange,” she recalls. “But it was super important for me.”
Returning meant rebuilding her practice. Her approach has centred on understanding people as individuals, whether clients or members of her team.
She recalls an associate who moved from private practice into their first in-house role. As a leaving gift, Helen offered “one question a day”. The associate could call about anything from a patent issue to uncertainty about presenting to the board. Years later, that former associate has become a client and is leading the patent group for a multinational business.
The approach also works well as Helen helps to build out Stephenson Harwood’s IP team. Former colleagues have joined Helen in the patent litigation team and in the trade mark prosecution space. “Investing that time in those individuals – whether clients or colleagues – and understanding what they needed, that’s what’s important to me.”
What does a successful outcome look like?
For Helen, success in litigation is not automatically synonymous with achieving a single favourable court judgment. The position is often more complex than that in multi-jurisdictional patent disputes.
At the beginning of a matter, she asks clients a deceptively simple question: “What does OK look like at the end of the day?”
The answer can depend on cost, time, commercial value and wider business priorities. Helen describes those factors as pieces of a jigsaw. Once assembled, they reveal the target the legal strategy needs to aim for.
And those objectives cannot simply be established once and then forgotten. “Businesses change. They’re living things, they move on.” Its important to check in along the way. That is especially relevant in technology disputes, where the commercially useful life of a product may be relatively short and where you may well be battling on many jurisdictional fronts. “Client’s really don’t want to spend the entire life of a product fighting about it, they want to have some time to work up the next valuable innovation, to keep the business moving forward.”
In mediation, Helen has even developed an informal test for recognising when settlement may be close. “I can generally tell that we’re near settlement when both sides of the table are sufficiently grumpy,” she laughs. “No one side has everything they want.” Sometimes a result everyone can live with is a more meaningful measure of success.
The technology keeps changing
The constant opportunity to learn is one of the things Helen enjoys most about her career.
AI is inevitably creating new questions around areas including patentability and copyright. Beyond AI, she is watching developments in quantum computing and the intersection between technology and life sciences, including AI-assisted drug discovery.
Green technology, clean technology and renewables are another growing area, while defence technology has also become increasingly significant.
Her career has introduced her to technical experts across numerous fields. “It opens doors to learning about all sorts of interesting innovations. That’s what I love about being an IP litigator – it is all about the technology you get to play with.”
Outside the office
Away from litigation, Helen’s favourite way to spend her time is with her seven-year-old son.
Her work has clearly rubbed off on him. On a recent trip to Nuremberg to make gingerbread, he wanted to know whether the recipe was a trade secret. “He knows all about trade secrets and patents,” Helen laughs.
He also enjoys technology, though Helen believes he is likely to be more suited to the life sciences side of patent litigation after he decided to give a school presentation about nanobots made from DNA. “He will have to speak to Jon or Paul in my team” Helen laughs “they both have a depth of knowledge on the life sciences side of things”.
Looking back with different eyes
Asked which landmark IP case she would most like to observe, Helen chooses something much closer to home. She would return to one of her earliest cases as a trainee but view it through the eyes of the experienced litigator she is today.
It was a damages inquiry following an infringement action concerning a patent for deep sea pipe laying vessels. This was before electronic disclosure, meaning plenty of time spent working through boxes of physical papers – some of which had been stored on pipe laying platforms in the middle of the ocean. “I’m pretty sure as a trainee I didn’t have a clue what was really going on,” she admits.
Yet those early cases inspired her. More than 20 years later, her route into patent litigation also offers an important message for those interested in the field but without a technical degree.
“You absolutely need to have that litigation instinct,” Helen says. “Then you need to be prepared to put in the hard work to learn – be interested and not frightened by the technology.”
Or, as she puts it rather more simply, be prepared to do the “boring bedtime reading”.
Meet the IP Professional is a PatWorld interview series exploring the people and perspectives shaping the intellectual property profession. Discover more interviews in the Meet the IP Professional hub, and find out more about PatWorld, a global IP search provider working with IP professionals worldwide to support informed patent, design and trade mark decisions, on our About Us page.
Andrew Tindall is a Patent Director in the Life Sciences team at HGF, with a particular focus on SMEs, start-ups, and venture capital clients. Combining a scientific background with a strongly commercial outlook, he sees intellectual property not simply as protection, but as a strategic tool for helping innovative businesses manage risk and achieve their […]
23rd September 2026
Andrew Tindall is a Patent Director in the Life Sciences team at HGF, with a particular focus on SMEs, start-ups, and venture capital clients. Combining a scientific background with a strongly commercial outlook, he sees intellectual property not simply as protection, but as a strategic tool for helping innovative businesses manage risk and achieve their goals.
Quick Profile
Name:Andrew Tindall Role: Patent Director, Life Sciences Firm / organisation:HGF Location: Cambridge area, UK Areas of expertise: Life sciences, biotechnology, start-ups and SMEs, venture capital, IP strategy, due diligence, future foods, precision medicine, and longevity technology
From science to intellectual property
Andrew’s interest in intellectual property grew from wanting to understand what happens after a scientific discovery is made. While he enjoyed science, he was particularly interested in how biotechnology could be used to solve real-world problems, from tackling disease to helping feed a growing population.
As he approached the end of his PhD in Japan, Andrew began thinking more seriously about where he wanted his career to take him. Patent law had come up in conversations with a friend during his PhD, but when he explored the profession properly, he realised how closely it matched his interests. “It hit all the buttons for things I wanted in my career,” he explains. “Getting to work with innovation, getting to write, I’ve always enjoyed writing, and also having that variety.”
That variety was particularly appealing. Andrew describes himself as something of a generalist, enjoying the opportunity to engage with different scientific problems rather than concentrating on one narrow area of research. After returning from Japan, he began applying for patent roles while relocating in the UK. He received his first job offer while temporarily staying on a friend’s sofa, an unconventional start to a career that has since developed around combining science, IP, and commercial strategy.
The moment everything clicked
One of the most important lessons in Andrew’s career did not come from an examination, textbook or patent hearing. It came from winning his first clients. The real revelation was not securing the work itself, but understanding the client’s commercial objectives and seeing how that changed the legal work.
“If I understood the company’s commercial objectives, the legal work became much clearer and much more valuable,” he says. “I could see what needed to be done and why it mattered.” It was a turning point in the way Andrew viewed his role.
He later took a brief break from private practice to explore advisory work with venture capital firms, venture studios, and start-ups. Although he ultimately missed the variety of clients offered by private practice, the experience gave him a valuable perspective on what businesses and investors expect from their IP advisers. “I’ve definitely learnt as much about the job from working with founders and investors as I have from textbooks and examinations.”
Working in the “risk translation business”
Today, Andrew describes himself as being in the “risk translation business”. A key part of his role involves helping SMEs and start-ups use IP to navigate due diligence and investment rounds. He also works with investors to understand potential IP risks and the implications for a deal.
Rather than eliminating uncertainty, Andrew sees his role as helping clients understand it. “Innovation is uncertain by nature,” he says. “The role of IP attorneys isn’t to eliminate uncertainty. It’s to help companies become investible despite it, and to quantify and qualify those risks.” That often means looking beyond the immediate task of obtaining a patent.
Andrew spends much of his time helping clients identify which rights really matter, understand their options, and make decisions that support wider objectives. Those objectives might include attracting investment, securing a licensing agreement or progressing towards an exit. It was also part of what attracted him to HGF and its work with SMEs and venture-backed businesses.
From technical correctness to commercial outcomes
Andrew’s approach has changed significantly as his career has developed. As a trainee, his focus was naturally on patentability, technical merit, and legal correctness. With experience, that focus has shifted towards the outcome the client needs to achieve. “The IP is a tool for achieving the business objective,” he explains.
He has also become more comfortable developing his own style as an adviser. Early in a career, he says, it is natural to emulate supervisors, while experience brings the confidence to develop your own tone and approach. For Andrew, an important part of that approach is ensuring clients have the context they need to make decisions. “There’s room for a variety of approaches,” he says. “I’m really happy that I’ve found mine.”
When IP makes a tangible difference
The most satisfying messages Andrew receives are not necessarily patent grant notifications or favourable examination reports. They are the emails telling him that a client has reached an important commercial milestone. “A round has closed, they’ve agreed a licensing deal, entered into a partnership or been able to claim Patent Box on a product,” he says. “Realising that what we’ve done has meaningfully moved the needle for somebody is always really satisfying.”
That focus on real-world outcomes is also reflected in the technologies that interest him most. With a background in plant science, Andrew was originally drawn to biotechnology because of its potential to address major problems. Today, his interests include precision medicine, longevity technology, and future foods. “The common thread for me is solving real-world problems at scale.”
Food, health, and an evolving innovation landscape
Future food technology has been a particular interest throughout Andrew’s career. Earlier on, he worked on oppositions in the sector as investment and interest in alternative food technologies began to grow. He describes it as watching an industry emerge in real time. Today, one area capturing his attention is functional food. “I’m interested in food as not merely fuel, but as more holistic nutrition and even as medicine,” he explains.
The emergence of GLP-1 therapies is adding another dimension. As people rethink their relationship with food, Andrew sees new questions emerging around nutrition and products designed for changing dietary needs. It is also a reminder of how technologies can develop in directions that were difficult to foresee at the outset.
Strategic advice in an age of AI
Andrew has seen expectations of patent attorneys change during his career. He believes clients increasingly want strategic advisers rather than professionals focused only on drafting, prosecution, and obtaining rights. “The value of the profession is moving towards providing judgement,” he says.
AI is likely to accelerate that shift. Andrew is positive about the productivity gains the technology could bring, while recognising that it will change where clients perceive value. For him, the opportunity lies in the aspects of the profession that depend on understanding the client, their commercial environment, and the decisions they need to make. That makes strategic thinking increasingly important.
Keeping sight of the decision
When a matter becomes complex, Andrew returns to a deceptively simple question: what is the client trying to achieve? In an opposition, due diligence project, or IP audit, it can be easy to become absorbed in every possible argument or detail. Taking a step back can reveal which information genuinely matters.
“Complexity usually becomes much more manageable once you identify which decision actually needs to be made,” he says. “Then you can work out what information you need to make that decision.”
The same thinking shapes Andrew’s view of efficiency. One lesson from earlier in his career has stayed with him: “Don’t confuse activity with value.” He remembers spending significant amounts of time on detailed research and analysis that ultimately made little difference to the outcome. Today, he is more comfortable prioritising the work that delivers the greatest value rather than pursuing perfection when the additional effort is unlikely to change the result.
Honesty when the answer is difficult
Technical knowledge matters, but Andrew believes clients often value something more fundamental: honest advice. That can be particularly important when the answer is not the one a client wants to hear. Sometimes a strategy will not work, an amendment may not be allowable, an IP position may present problems for investment, or an opposition may be difficult to win. Delivering that message requires confidence and judgement.
“We can’t make decisions for clients,” Andrew says. “We have to give them the information and tools they need to make them, and make them feel comfortable making the call.” For Andrew, resisting the temptation to offer false reassurance is an important part of being a trusted adviser.
The invention he would revisit
Given the opportunity to return to an earlier technology and help shape its IP strategy, Andrew would choose the early development of GLP-1 therapies. It is an area he encountered as a junior trainee, long before GLP-1 drugs became widely known. At the time, the work was heavily focused on diabetes, while their later impact on obesity treatment and the wider health and nutrition landscape was far harder to foresee.
Andrew remembers working on cases involving compounds originating from research into Gila monster venom. By coincidence, he had recently returned from visiting a friend in the US who kept a Gila monster as a pet. Beyond the unusual coincidence, the experience now represents something more significant to him. “It highlights just how difficult it can be to spot the transformative potential of inventions at the outset,” he says.
He would have liked to be part of those early strategic discussions, considering where future value might emerge and how an IP strategy could keep those possibilities open.
Outside the office
Away from IP, Andrew is a keen gardener and smallholder. He lives in a village, with his family, outside Cambridge, where he keeps chickens and grows vegetables, and over the years he has also had several allotments. Gardening provides more than a change of scenery. “Growing vegetables is a useful reminder that not everything can be accelerated or forced through,” he says. “You can think about it as much as you like and be as clever as you want, but some things simply take time.”
This year, chilli peppers have thrived in the heat, but the surprise success has been amaranth. After experimenting with callaloo and other varieties, Andrew has found the plants flourishing, perhaps a little too successfully. His self-seeded callaloo has spread beyond the garden and even down the street. Beautiful, edible, and difficult to remove, it looks likely to return whether invited or not.
Developing the next generation
As Andrew looks to the next stage of his career, one area he is particularly excited about is developing the next generation of patent attorneys. “I’ve always enjoyed people management. I’ve always enjoyed training people,” he says. As he takes on greater seniority, he is looking forward to having more influence over the skills future attorneys will need.
For Andrew, commercial awareness and strategic thinking will be an important part of that. He sees bridging the gap between science and capital as a continuing challenge in biotechnology and believes patent attorneys can play an important role in helping innovative businesses navigate it.
It brings the conversation back to a theme that has shaped Andrew’s own career: understanding the science is only part of the job. The real value comes from understanding what a client is trying to achieve and using IP strategically to help them get there.
Meet the IP Professional is a PatWorld interview series exploring the people and perspectives shaping the intellectual property profession. Discover more interviews in the Meet the IP Professional hub, and find out more about PatWorld, a global IP search provider working with IP professionals worldwide to support informed patent, design and trade mark decisions, on our About Us page.
Veronika Brázdová is a physicist by training and now works as a UK and European patent attorney and commercial mediator. Through Brázdová IP, she combines scientific curiosity with commercial thinking, with a particular interest in sustainable and marine technologies, including shipping, decarbonisation and emerging blue-water innovation. Quick Profile Name: Veronika BrázdováRole: UK and European Patent […]
16th September 2026
Veronika Brázdová is a physicist by training and now works as a UK and European patent attorney and commercial mediator. Through Brázdová IP, she combines scientific curiosity with commercial thinking, with a particular interest in sustainable and marine technologies, including shipping, decarbonisation and emerging blue-water innovation.
Quick Profile
Name:Veronika Brázdová Role: UK and European Patent Attorney and Commercial Mediator Firm / organisation:Brázdová IP Location: UK Areas of expertise: Physics and engineering, sustainable technologies, marine technologies, shipping and decarbonisation, IP strategy and commercial mediation
Curiosity as a starting point
For Veronika, the connection between physics and patents is more natural than it might first appear.
“I went into physics to find out how things work,” she says. Curiosity was what initially attracted her to science. When the realities of pursuing a long-term academic career prompted her to consider alternatives, she realised patents offered something surprisingly similar. “Patents are also about how things work.”
That moment of understanding remains one of the things she most enjoys about her profession. Whether looking at scientific research, an invention or even a mediation, Veronika wants to understand what sits beneath the surface.
There is a particular satisfaction when the underlying function or structure suddenly becomes clear. Once you understand why something is happening, she explains, you can work with it very differently.
That same curiosity eventually led Veronika to establish Brázdová IP. “I wanted to create my own business in the way I want it,” she says. Running her own practice gives her freedom over everything from her technical niche to the firm’s branding. More importantly, it allows her to concentrate on areas that matter to her, particularly working with founders and sustainable technologies.
Bringing a physicist’s perspective to new inventions
Veronika’s scientific experience spans different disciplines and approaches, from large-scale simulations and supercomputing to experimental work. That breadth is valuable in patent practice.
Within physics and engineering, patent attorneys may encounter technologies across many different sectors. They need to be able to understand what arrives on their desk, even when it sits outside their previous specialist experience. “Having experience in different fields helps you understand any new field as well, because you’ve seen so many things before,” she explains.
It also helps you know which questions to ask.
Veronika found that her legal training strengthened this further. Patent attorneys are trained to question an invention carefully and work out exactly how it functions. For someone whose career began with a desire to understand how things work, it is an aspect of the profession she particularly enjoys.
An affinity with ships and sustainable technology
Marine and sustainable technology bring together several of Veronika’s interests. She has always loved ships and the ocean. Growing up in a landlocked country made the sea represent holidays, adventure and “far horizons”.
A recent trip to the Arctic reinforced that fascination. Arriving in Kirkenes, she saw her ship moored against the icy landscape. “I felt the same way as some people probably feel about cathedrals,” she recalls. For Veronika, the sheer scale of a ship engineered to withstand such harsh conditions is impressive in itself. Professionally, the sector is equally compelling.
Shipping is undergoing a strong drive towards decarbonisation. New requirements are encouraging shipowners to reduce emissions, while technological developments are making ideas feasible that could not previously be implemented.
Hydrofoils are one example. The underlying principle has been understood for many years. Advances in materials, software and computing have now made increasingly sophisticated applications possible.
The marine environment also creates unusual technical demands. Equipment must cope with salt water, wind, waves, vibration and temperature extremes. In Arctic environments, conditions become more demanding still.
For a patent attorney, this combination of difficult operating conditions and rapid innovation makes the field particularly interesting.
When old ideas become new technology
Ask Veronika which marine technology excites her most and the answer comes quickly: wind-assisted ships. “This is my absolute favourite and the coolest technology as far as I’m concerned.”
Humans relied on sails for thousands of years before steam and other forms of propulsion took over. Now wind power is returning, supported by modern materials, engineering and control systems.
As wind-assist proponents like to point out, “the cheapest fuel is the fuel that they don’t burn.” Even a relatively modest reduction in fuel consumption can become significant when multiplied across a fleet.
Modern wind-assist systems can take several forms. Rigid sails can be precisely adjusted to changing wind conditions. Flettner rotors use rotating cylinders to generate propulsion assistance, applying a principle that has been known for more than a century.
What interests Veronika is how quickly the discussion has moved. At industry events only a few years ago, much of the conversation centred on pilot projects. More recently, the focus has shifted towards commercial installations.
Existing cargo ships can also be retrofitted, allowing operators to introduce wind assistance without replacing conventional engines.
For Veronika, it is a good example of how an established idea can become commercially viable once the supporting technology catches up.
Making IP strategy part of the business strategy
When working with founders, Veronika believes IP cannot be treated as something to consider later.
Early-stage companies already have long lists of urgent priorities. Intellectual property can easily become part of the “legal stuff” that founders know they should address at some point. But delaying those conversations can create unnecessary risk. “The sooner you start, the better the payoff,” she says.
Crucially, that does not automatically mean seeking patents. Veronika believes an IP strategy must support the business plan. Before recommending a particular approach, she therefore wants to understand where a company is heading.
“If I think a client doesn’t need a patent, I will tell them they don’t need a patent.” Trade secrets may sometimes be more appropriate, or a combination of different forms of protection.
Funding plans, expansion, target markets, technology and competitors can all affect the right strategy. This is why Veronika particularly values carrying out IP audits with clients. By discussing the business and the technology together, she can help establish an IP strategy that the company can then implement.
That strategy should never be static. Veronika recommends revisiting it as the business develops. A funding milestone, a new invention or a change in commercial direction may all mean the IP approach needs to change too. “It’s an ongoing thing.”
What mediation brings to patent practice
Alongside her patent work, Veronika is also a commercial mediator. The training has influenced the way she works with clients, particularly when difficult questions need to be asked. “The way you ask is critical,” she says.
Just as important is listening. Active listening forms a major part of mediation training. Veronika describes it as a life skill that can help almost anywhere.
It also reinforces the importance of understanding what a client actually wants to achieve. The underlying objective may be different from the position first presented.
There is a clear connection with the curiosity that first drew Veronika to physics. Whether the subject is an invention, a business strategy or a commercial disagreement, she is interested in understanding what is really happening beneath the surface.
Lessons from academia, innovation and business
Moving from academia into IP also changed Veronika’s perspective on innovation.
One lesson was simple: don’t try to do everything yourself. Academics can become conditioned to believe they both can and should handle everything. Commercial life requires a different approach.
She also learned the importance of knowing when something is good enough. “You can still have a high bar of what good enough is, but it is not the same as perfect.” In academia, it can be tempting to continue perfecting details that ultimately have little bearing on the bigger picture.
Working with businesses has made Veronika more conscious of funding, commercial priorities and communication.
The most important question is often not the intricate technical detail, but what the technology actually does.
Looking 20 years ahead
There are several marine technologies Veronika would like to fast-forward two decades to see.
Marine carbon dioxide removal is high on the list. The ocean is already a natural carbon sink, but the process is slow. Technologies are being developed to accelerate carbon removal and deploy it at scale. The challenge now is not simply whether approaches can work technically, but whether they can be scaled and commercialised.
Autonomous vessels are another area she expects to develop significantly, while wind-assisted shipping remains a personal favourite.
She is also watching tidal energy. It has been “emerging” for decades, but commercial and site-specific challenges have made standardisation difficult.
How these technologies develop will also depend on progress elsewhere, including floating offshore wind and other energy sources. For Veronika, that uncertainty is part of what makes the sector fascinating.
Outside the office
Switching off means getting “away from the screen and into the real world”.
Singing is particularly important to Veronika. She is currently working her way through Cleopatra’s arias from Handel’s Giulio Cesare, something she describes as great fun. She also plays the harp.
Her interests do not stop there.
She would like to return to Japanese woodblock printing after enjoying a course several years ago. More recently, she has been learning perfumery. It is proving challenging, but that is part of the attraction. “It’s one of those slogs that will be really satisfying and worth it in the future.”
Her enthusiasm for the sea extends beyond work too. During a recent Arctic holiday, she spent time aboard a working Hurtigruten ship before travelling onwards and experiencing husky sledding across the Finnmark Plateau in a whiteout.
Advice for scientists and engineers considering IP
For scientists and engineers wondering whether their background is suitable for a career in intellectual property, Veronika’s advice is straightforward: “Do it.”
The important thing is not already knowing every technology you might encounter. By definition, patent attorneys regularly work with inventions that have not existed before. What matters is having the scientific training needed to follow what an inventor is explaining, ask the right questions and understand the technology. Legal training builds on that foundation.
Veronika remembers finishing a two-hour discussion with a group of inventors alongside another patent attorney. At the end, the attorneys remarked that they finally understood how the invention worked. The inventors replied: “Now we understand how it works.”
Perhaps that captures Veronika’s career particularly well. From physics to patents, mediation and sustainable marine technology, the common thread is the satisfaction of asking questions until something complex becomes clear.
She will also be attending UK Offshore Wind 2026, organised by the Danish-UK Association, on 3 December 2026.
If you are attending either event and would like to connect with Veronika, reach out to her on LinkedIn.
Meet the IP Professional is a PatWorld interview series exploring the people and perspectives shaping the intellectual property profession. Discover more interviews in the Meet the IP Professional hub, and find out more about PatWorld, a global IP search provider working with IP professionals worldwide to support informed patent, design and trade mark decisions, on our About Us page.
Michael McLaughlin is a Singapore Registered Patent Attorney, British Chartered Patent Attorney and qualified European Patent Attorney, and founder of McLaughlin IP. Originally from the UK, he has more than 25 years’ experience in intellectual property, combining international patent expertise with a highly tailored approach to helping businesses protect innovation across Singapore, Asia and wider […]
9th September 2026
Michael McLaughlin is a Singapore Registered Patent Attorney, British Chartered Patent Attorney and qualified European Patent Attorney, and founder of McLaughlin IP. Originally from the UK, he has more than 25 years’ experience in intellectual property, combining international patent expertise with a highly tailored approach to helping businesses protect innovation across Singapore, Asia and wider global markets.
Quick profile
Name:Michael McLaughlin Role: Singapore Registered Patent Attorney Firm / organisation:McLaughlin IP Location: Singapore Areas of expertise: Patents, international patent strategy, software and ICT, electrical and electronic engineering, mechanical engineering and devices
From engineering to intellectual property
Like many patent attorneys, Michael did not begin his career with a long-held ambition to work in IP. However, his route into the profession was not entirely accidental.
The seed was planted towards the end of his university course. A close friend was considering a career in the profession and suggested Michael might also be suited to it. At that point, the prospect of more professional examinations held little appeal. Michael already had an engineering job lined up and was ready to begin his career.
Around eight years later, they had the conversation again. By then, Michael was working as an engineer in London and looking for a new challenge. His friend had been working as a patent attorney for most of that time and still enjoying the variety of the profession. This time, Michael listened.
The combination of technology, analytical thinking and the opportunity to keep learning appealed to him. He made the move into patent law, trained in London and subsequently qualified as a British Chartered Patent Attorney and European Patent Attorney.
Building an international perspective
International work became part of Michael’s career from an early stage. While training and working in London, he helped manage clients’ patent portfolios across multiple jurisdictions. That meant exposure to prosecution in countries including the US, China and Korea well before his eventual move to Singapore.
When he did relocate, the transition was therefore less of a dramatic change in practice and more of a refinement. Singapore’s patent legislation also provided a relatively familiar starting point because of its roots in UK patent law. Over time, however, Michael developed a deeper understanding of the distinctions in Singapore law and between jurisdictions across Asia.
Today, that experience helps him anticipate the practical differences that can arise when clients pursue international protection.
“I immediately picked up this international exposure during my training in London,” he explains. “After moving to Singapore, it was really about picking up experience and becoming more familiar with the subtleties and distinctions.”
Those distinctions can appear small, but they matter. Understanding them early can help clients make better decisions about international filing programmes. The extra experience picked up over the years, and the ability to draw on that and apply and extend it in new and challenging situations is the key.
For Michael, working in Singapore has particularly strengthened his knowledge of patent practice across ASEAN and the wider Asian region.
Advice built around the client
One principle sits firmly at the centre of Michael’s practice: there is no universal template for good IP advice.
He recalls recently receiving an enquiry from someone who asked for the firm’s “standard framework” for handling his situation. Michael’s response was straightforward: there wasn’t one. “We don’t do that one-size-fits-all approach,” he says.
A framework may become established for an individual client once their requirements are understood. But Michael does not believe the same approach should automatically be applied to every organisation.
Instead, the starting point is a conversation. “What do you have? Where do you want to go? How do you want to get there? What do you want to do with the IP?” Those questions become particularly important when advising organisations of very different sizes. Michael’s clients range from individual inventors and SMEs to larger businesses and international organisations.
The aim is to understand what the client is trying to achieve and shape the IP strategy around that objective.
Singapore’s evolving IP landscape
Michael has witnessed significant change during his career, particularly across Asia. The rise of China as a major source of patent filings has transformed the global landscape. He has also watched major Korean corporations build enormous patent portfolios.
Closer to home, he has seen Singapore’s patent system develop considerably. One notable change has been the creation of Singapore’s own search and examination capabilities. Earlier approaches relied much more heavily on work undertaken by other patent offices. Singapore has since developed what Michael describes as a capable search and examination unit of its own. The development reflects the country’s wider commitment to intellectual property. “Singapore takes intellectual property very, very seriously,” he says.
For a patent attorney, that commitment is accompanied by access to some fascinating technology. Michael has encountered advanced research and written patent applications covering work that he believes he may have been less likely to encounter had he remained in the UK.
Singapore has also developed a substantial innovation ecosystem around universities, incubators, government support and access to investment. For many Singapore-based innovators, however, the opportunity extends well beyond the domestic market. Because Singapore itself is relatively small, Michael finds that many of his domestic clients are thinking internationally from an early stage. The question of where to seek patent protection therefore comes back to commercial objectives rather than a predetermined list of countries.
“Where are your markets? Where are your opportunities?” he asks.
The right filing strategy depends on the answers.
Knowing why you want IP
That same focus on purpose runs through Michael’s approach to patent strategy. He has worked with organisations developing portfolios during periods of significant growth. One of the most important lessons from those experiences is deceptively simple: understand why the business wants intellectual property in the first place.
It is not enough for an organisation to decide that it “needs IP” because intellectual property is viewed as important. “Has anyone asked the question, why do you need it?” Michael says. “What do you need it for? What are you going to use it for?” For Michael, those questions should inform the strategy from the beginning.
A patent portfolio should have a purpose. Understanding that purpose helps determine what should be protected, where protection is needed and how much resource should sensibly be invested. Most organisations should need more than, “Yes, we’ll give you X number of patent applications at Y thousands of dollars over the next Z years.”
Technology is changing the conversation
Software, electronics and engineering remain important areas of Michael’s practice. Increasingly, developments in artificial intelligence are affecting both the technology being protected and the way patent professionals work.
For clients seeking international protection, Michael sees increasing complexity in areas such as AI-related inventions.
Patent office decisions and evolving practice can raise expectations around the information required and how an application should be prepared. This can (or at least should) also affect the time and budget needed to produce a strong specification.
That sometimes means having difficult conversations with clients. A budget suitable for a relatively routine invention may not be appropriate for a complex AI patent application intended for multiple international markets. The process may also require changes in how information is gathered from inventors at the outset.
Michael sees AI tools themselves becoming part of patent practice too. He expects AI-assisted patent drafting to raise the baseline quality of some specifications. Yet he does not believe technology removes the value of an experienced adviser.
Instead, it may make that distinction more important. “The big opportunity is still going to be for the trusted adviser,” he says. Experience allows professionals to make connections, look more deeply at a situation and understand what may be required to achieve a client’s desired result.
AI may change the playing field, but Michael believes there will still be opportunities for strong thinkers to distinguish themselves.
The importance of being good with people
Ask Michael what skills matter in an international IP career and his answer goes beyond technical expertise. Analytical ability is important, but so are human skills.
It was something he came to appreciate after moving from large engineering organisations into a much smaller patent attorney firm. “So much of what we do is dependent on personal relationships,” he says. That applies internally, with colleagues, and externally with clients and overseas associates. It becomes particularly important when building an international practice.
Communication is part of the same skill set. When Michael writes complex advice, his priority is not producing an impressive piece of prose. He thinks about the person receiving it. “How is this going to be read? I have to frame this in a way which is accessible for the reader.”
For those entering the profession, his advice is therefore to recognise the importance of relating to people as well as developing technical expertise.
There is another quality he values too: common sense. “A little bit of common sense goes an awful long way.”
Switching off
Outside work, Michael devotes a significant amount of time to staying fit and healthy. Exercise is part of most days. His focus is increasingly on mobility and compound movement. He is also a wannabe surfer, but needs to make more time for it. The results have been significant. Michael says he is in better physical shape in his mid-50s than he was 20 years earlier.
He has also rediscovered reading. Once an avid reader, he has recently returned to historical non-fiction and is enjoying making books part of his downtime again.
Perhaps most importantly, he tries to step away from screens. Sometimes switching off really does mean putting the device down.
Living in Singapore also gives Michael plenty of opportunities to get outside. He particularly enjoys walking around MacRitchie Reservoir and the trails surrounding Bukit Timah. During the pandemic, access to those outdoor spaces became especially valuable.
Looking ahead
Michael is pragmatic about the changes facing the profession. AI will alter how some aspects of patent work are carried out. It may improve the baseline quality of certain tasks and reshape client expectations. But he believes experience, judgement and the ability to understand people will continue to matter.
For the next generation of IP professionals, technical expertise alone may therefore not be enough. The ability to listen, understand what someone is really trying to achieve and communicate advice in a way they can use remains central to the role.
The tools may change. The value of being a trusted adviser remains.
Meet the IP Professional is a PatWorld interview series exploring the people and perspectives shaping the intellectual property profession. Discover more interviews in the Meet the IP Professional hub, and find out more about PatWorld, a global IP search provider working with IP professionals worldwide to support informed patent, design and trade mark decisions, on our About Us page.
Robert Wulff is a Principal and patent attorney at Griffith Hack in Sydney, Australia. Over a 37-year career with the firm, he has worked across patents and designs in industries ranging from mining and agriculture to construction and clean technology, while developing a client-focused approach grounded in curiosity, listening and a genuine interest in innovation. […]
2nd September 2026
Robert Wulff is a Principal and patent attorney at Griffith Hack in Sydney, Australia. Over a 37-year career with the firm, he has worked across patents and designs in industries ranging from mining and agriculture to construction and clean technology, while developing a client-focused approach grounded in curiosity, listening and a genuine interest in innovation.
Quick Profile
Name:Robert Wulff Role: Principal and Patent Attorney Firm / organisation: Griffith Hack Location: Sydney, Australia Areas of expertise: Patents, designs, IP strategy, chemical engineering, mining, agriculture, construction and industrial technologies
Finding a profession that combined technology and words
Robert’s route into intellectual property began with chemical engineering. After training and working as a chemical engineer for three years, he realised that something was missing.
“I always loved words and writing,” he explains. “I didn’t really get that opportunity as a practising chemical engineer.”
A university friend had entered the patent profession and introduced Robert to a career that could bring those interests together. When two positions became available, Robert interviewed for both and was offered both. He chose Griffith Hack.
That was in 1989. He has been with the firm ever since, becoming a principal in 1997.
Looking back, Robert describes entering IP as something of a fortunate accident. “I kind of stumbled into this profession,” he says. “I don’t think I appreciated at the time that I had fallen into a lucky profession.”
What has kept him engaged is the combination that attracted him in the first place: technology, people and the opportunity to communicate complex ideas.
From fax machines to AI
Thirty-seven years in one profession has given Robert an unusually long view of how working practices have changed.
When he joined Griffith Hack, fax machines had yet to transform client communication. Their arrival brought an expectation of overnight replies. Email accelerated that further, while laptops, mobile phones and smartphones progressively changed where and how people could work.
COVID brought another major shift, making remote working a standard part of professional life. Robert now divides his working week between home and the office.
The latest change is artificial intelligence. For Robert, AI is already augmenting professional work and increasing productivity. At the same time, it is creating new areas of patent activity as clients develop AI-related technologies.
Staying close to clients and technology
Robert’s role has also evolved as Griffith Hack itself has changed. With professional management now handling much of the day-to-day running of the business, his focus is firmly on clients, people and business development.
He looks after key clients, supervises and mentors around nine attorneys, writes articles, attends conferences and maintains relationships with IP professionals around the world.
“What continues to inspire me most is the clients and the technologies that we get to work with,” he says. “It’s a real privilege, actually, because some of our clients are world’s best at what they do.”
The variety is considerable. One day might involve wastewater treatment, another a new building tool, a chemical process, metal extraction technology or even fence posts.
For someone naturally curious about how things work, that variety remains one of the profession’s great attractions.
“You get to enter into their world,” Robert says.
Asking questions – and listening to the answers
Robert’s approach to clients has been influenced by an interest that extends well beyond patent law. For more than four decades, he has studied practical philosophy.
In particular, he has drawn on the dialectic method associated with Socrates: using questions and discussion to develop understanding.
Robert sees it as a powerful technique in client meetings. Asking the right questions helps him understand not only an invention but also the client’s business and objectives.
That emphasis on questioning is accompanied by something simpler: listening.
“A lot of questions and a lot of listening,” is how he describes the starting point for developing an effective IP strategy.
IP strategy starts with the business
Robert firmly views intellectual property as a business tool rather than simply a collection of legal rights.
His involvement with an early-stage venture community has reinforced that perspective. Investors considering technology businesses often expect to see appropriate IP protection in place. But that does not mean recommending patents in every situation.
Robert believes an IP strategy must start with understanding what the organisation is trying to achieve.
“My experience is that every IP strategy is different,” he says. “It is unique in a way because every business is different.”
For some developments, trade secrets may make more commercial sense. A startup may need to maximise protection while controlling costs, while a large industrial organisation may have very different priorities.
Robert also sees a clear connection between an organisation’s attitude towards innovation and the value it derives from IP. Where innovation forms part of the culture, IP is more likely to be regarded as a business asset rather than simply a cost.
“You’ve got to really understand the client and their business and their offering and what it is they’re seeking to achieve,” he explains.
A profession transformed
The structure of the IP profession looks very different from when Robert entered it.
In 1989, he recalls a landscape dominated by smaller boutique IP practices. Since then, major law firms have moved further into IP, firms have merged, and listed groups and private equity have become increasingly involved in the sector.
Griffith Hack itself has been part of that evolution, growing from a traditional partnership structure to become part of a larger international IP group.
The result, in Robert’s view, is a considerably more competitive profession.
Career structures have changed too. Robert became an equity partner eight years after entering the profession, a progression he says would be unusually rapid today.
At the other end of the spectrum, building an independent practice brings different challenges, from balancing client work with running a business to deciding where and how to invest in technology and people.
Where AI fits into the future of patent practice
Despite the pace of technological change, Robert does not believe AI will remove the need for skilled patent attorneys.
“In my opinion, there’s always going to be a role for a skilled and experienced patent attorney,” he says.
AI can take on some routine work traditionally carried out at the beginning of a patent attorney’s career. Robert believes this will change how junior practitioners develop their skills, making training and exposure to higher-value work increasingly important.
But technology still needs to be understood in context. Patent attorneys must bridge the gap between an invention, the client’s objectives and appropriate legal protection.
At the same time, Robert is seeing patent activity across AI, critical minerals, renewable technologies, pollution reduction, waste and water treatment, quantum computing and data-related technologies.
“The fundamentals will always remain,” he says. “You’ll need attorneys that can roll their sleeves up and understand the technologies and then ensure that those technologies translate effectively into legal protection.”
Curiosity, humility and a sense of wonder
For Robert, longevity in the profession has not meant reaching a point where there is nothing left to learn.
“Remain open to be surprised and preserve a sense of wonder,” he says.
He believes practitioners should cultivate a genuine interest in what their clients are doing, ask questions and listen carefully. Just as importantly, they should avoid assuming they have mastered their craft.
Robert uses patent drafting as an example. Even after decades of experience, he believes his own drafting continues to evolve and is willing to learn from colleagues, including the attorneys he mentors.
“My view is that you’ve never mastered your craft,” he says.
That willingness to keep learning means being prepared to recognise a better approach and acknowledge when you may have got something wrong.
The inventor Robert would invite to lunch
Asked which inventor he would most like to spend an afternoon talking to, Robert chooses Japanese inventor Shunpei Yamazaki.
What interests Robert most is not simply what Yamazaki invented, but how he thought. He would want to understand his process of invention, what inspired him and which achievements gave him the greatest satisfaction.
It is a choice that reflects Robert’s own curiosity about not just what someone has created, but how they think.
Outside the office
Away from IP, family plays a central role in Robert’s life. He and his wife have two adult children who are both at university, and the family still enjoys spending time and holidaying together.
Before COVID, the family bought a farm in the Southern Highlands. Robert describes the landscape as “a little slice of England”, with parts of the area having been used in the filming of Babe.
Robert enjoys surfing, gardening, fixing things around the farm and walking the dog with his wife. He is also writing his first novel, while practical philosophy remains a longstanding passion that he shares with his wife.
Giving the work 100%
When Robert first joined the partnership at Griffith Hack, he asked a friend who had been a senior partner in another professional services firm for advice.
The answer came down to three principles: give the work 100%, treat everyone as you would like to be treated yourself, and never compromise your principles.
Robert has carried that advice throughout his career and now passes it on to the attorneys he mentors. He also encourages them to strive for excellence, both in their work and in how they treat clients and colleagues.
If he could return to his first day in the profession, he would offer his younger self much the same advice – along with a reminder to appreciate the opportunity sooner.
“You’re a lucky man to have fallen into this profession,” he says.
After 37 years, the technologies may have changed and the profession has become more competitive, but Robert’s enthusiasm for the work remains intact.
For him, the enduring appeal lies in being able to learn, ask questions and work alongside people developing new ideas – while recognising that, however experienced you become, there is always more to discover.
Meet the IP Professional is a PatWorld interview series exploring the people and perspectives shaping the intellectual property profession. Discover more interviews in the Meet the IP Professional hub, and find out more about PatWorld, a global IP search provider working with IP professionals worldwide to support informed patent, design and trade mark decisions, on our About Us page.
Maille (pronounced “molly”) Lyons never planned a career in intellectual property. A scientist, researcher and educator, she knew little about patents when a move to Washington DC led a friend to suggest applying for a role at the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). Fourteen years later, she left a career she loved with […]
26th August 2026
Maille (pronounced “molly”) Lyons never planned a career in intellectual property. A scientist, researcher and educator, she knew little about patents when a move to Washington DC led a friend to suggest applying for a role at the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). Fourteen years later, she left a career she loved with a wealth of experience from inside the US patent system. Today, through her own consultancy, she is using that examiner’s perspective to help others better understand and navigate the patent process.
Quick profile
Name:Mary Maille (Molly) Lyons. Background: Scientist, researcher and educator; former USPTO Patent Examiner. Current focus: Independent IP consultancy, SeaLyons LLC. Specialist area: Biotechnology and the US patent examination process. Something you might not know: Maille combines her consultancy with a life of travel and plans to return to living and working aboard a 44-foot sailboat when her new vessel is ready.
An unexpected route into IP
For Maille, a career in intellectual property was never part of a carefully mapped-out plan.
Her background was in science. She had worked in both research and education, developing a deep knowledge of biotechnology and, just as importantly, an appetite for learning.
A change in circumstances provided the unexpected route into patents. As a military wife, Maille had moved regularly, and when her husband’s career took them to Washington DC, finding a suitable scientific research position proved difficult.
A friend suggested that she apply to the USPTO.
At the time, Maille knew very little about intellectual property or what being a patent examiner involved. Nevertheless, the combination of science, research and the opportunity to explore new ideas quickly proved a natural fit.
She was hooked.
Over the next 14 years, Maille built a successful career at the USPTO. Receiving accolades for her work and discovering a profession that brought together many of the things she enjoyed most.
“I loved reading about new innovations every day and speaking to innovators who were passionate about their inventions.”
Her previous experience proved particularly valuable. A background in biotechnology gave her the technical understanding required to examine complex inventions.While years spent researching meant that reading, investigating and continually acquiring new knowledge already came naturally.
There was, however, one aspect of the job that surprised her.
“You need to know a lot of law.”
For someone entering the profession from a scientific background, understanding the legal framework surrounding patents represented a significant learning curve. Over time, that combination of scientific and legal knowledge became an important part of her expertise.
Life on the other side of a patent application
For patent applicants and their representatives, interaction with an examiner may be just one stage of a much longer journey. For Maille, spending 14 years on the other side of that interaction has given her a very different perspective on the process.
One point she is particularly keen to emphasise is that many examiners want applicants to succeed.
Having spoken with innovators throughout her USPTO career, she understands how much time, knowledge and enthusiasm can sit behind an invention. The examiner’s job is not simply to find reasons to reject an application, but to assess it within the framework they are required to follow.
Maille describes the examiner’s role using the analogy of putting a fence around an invention. An inventor will naturally want that fence to extend as far as possible, maximising the scope of their protection. The examiner’s role is to determine where that fence can fairly be placed, balancing appropriate protection for the inventor with the interests of the wider public and the need to leave room for further innovation.
That makes presenting information clearly particularly important. For Maille, that clarity starts with the claims. Examiners will often read these first because they establish the legal boundaries of the protection being sought, meaning every word matters. Clear, well-written claims can make the examiner’s task easier and often give a good indication of how clearly the rest of the application has been prepared.
Maille points to the guidance provided by the USPTO for patent applications. While not every element of that guidance is mandatory, following the recommended structure can make it considerably easier for an examiner to understand an application and locate the information they need.
From her experience, departing from that guidance unnecessarily can create problems.
If information is difficult to identify or understand, there is greater potential for something important to be missed. That can make the examination process more difficult and potentially contribute to an application being rejected.
It is a simple insight, but one that reflects Maille’s broader philosophy: understanding the process from the examiner’s perspective can make navigating it much easier.
Turning examiner experience into a consultancy
Leaving the USPTO was not driven by a desire to leave patent examination behind. Maille thoroughly enjoyed her work.
Instead, a very different life decision prompted the next stage of her career.
Maille and her husband had decided to live aboard a sailboat and travel. Establishing her own consultancy offered a way to retain her connection with intellectual property. While creating the freedom to work wherever their travels took them.
It also gave her an opportunity to put 14 years of examiner experience to work in a new way.
Today, that experience is central to what she offers.
Having sat on the examiner’s side of the process, Maille understands what an examiner is looking for in an application and the issues that can arise during examination and subsequent responses or appeals. She can look at a situation through a lens that applicants themselves may never have experienced.
That perspective is particularly useful because she also understands the human side of the process.
Years of conversations with applicants have given her an appreciation of the passion people have for their ideas. Combining that understanding with practical knowledge of how examiners work allows her to help clients approach the process more effectively.
It is a role that brings together the different strands of her career: scientist, researcher, educator and former patent examiner.
The deliberately provocative title reflects one of the messages she wants applicants to understand: the relationship between applicant and examiner does not need to be adversarial.
Maille believes it is important not to let patent examination become an “us versus them” contest between examiners and IP practitioners. Instead, she encourages both sides to keep the inventor at the centre of the process. Behind an application is usually someone who genuinely believes they have created something important.The shared aim should be to help establish a strong, defensible patent with an appropriate scope of protection.
The book is intended to help inventors and those supporting them better understand how to work with patent examiners and make their way through the USPTO process more smoothly.
Although firmly rooted in the US patent system, Maille believes the lessons are relevant beyond the United States, particularly for overseas applicants seeking US patent protection.
That international relevance has become even more significant following a USPTO rule change effective from 20 July 2026. The rule change concerning representation for applicants located outside the United States. For overseas innovators navigating the US system, understanding how the USPTO and its examiners operate remains an important part of the process.
Maille’s experience also gives her an appreciation of just how complex patent examination can become. Patentability is not simply a matter of understanding the science behind an invention. Examiners must apply detailed legal and procedural guidance, including rules around issues such as subject matter eligibility.
For innovators encountering the system for the first time, that complexity can be daunting. Maille’s aim is to make what happens on the examiner’s side less mysterious.
A career built on curiosity
There is another thread connecting the different stages of Maille’s career: curiosity.
Research, teaching and patent examination all require a willingness to keep learning. For Maille, that is one of the great attractions of working with intellectual property.
Every application can introduce a new technology, discovery or idea.
It is also why she believes someone does not necessarily need to discover intellectual property at the beginning of their career to find their place within it. Maille herself came to IP relatively late, bringing experience and qualifications from elsewhere that ultimately helped her succeed.
Her advice to others considering a similar move is reassuringly straightforward: you can start at any time.
A research background can be particularly useful because researchers are already accustomed to reading extensively, investigating unfamiliar subjects and continually developing their knowledge.
There is, however, one caveat.
If spending large amounts of time reading scientific and technical literature sounds tedious, patent examination may not be the career for you.
For Maille, it was precisely the opposite. The opportunity to encounter something new every day was part of what kept the role interesting throughout her 14 years at the USPTO.
Wherever the winds take her
Maille’s working life today looks rather different from her years in Washington DC.
She previously lived and travelled aboard a catamaran, which has since been sold while she waits for a new boat to be built. In the meantime, her travels continue on dry land, with plans to be back on the water later this year.
The ambition is to combine both sides of her life. Developing her consultancy and sharing the knowledge accumulated during her USPTO career while continuing to travel the world.
It is perhaps an appropriate next chapter for a career that was never planned in the first place.
What began with a friend’s suggestion to apply for an unfamiliar job became a 14-year career at the heart of the US patent system. Now, Maille is taking everything she learned on the examiner’s side and using it to help others see the patent process from a different perspective. Wherever in the world she happens to be.
Connect with Maille
To learn more about Maille’s consultancy, her experience at the USPTO and her adventures as she takes her work around the world, connect with her on LinkedIn, visit IP at Sea or email.[email protected]
For more of Maille’s insights from the examiner’s side of the patent process, her book, There are NO Bad Patent Examiners: The unofficial guide to working with the “good” ones, offers a practical look at working with USPTO patent examiners and navigating the examination process. Find out more about Maille’s book.
Meet the IP Professional is a PatWorld interview series exploring the people and perspectives shaping the intellectual property profession. Discover more interviews in the Meet the IP Professional hub, and find out more about PatWorld, a global IP search provider working with IP professionals worldwide to support informed patent, design and trade mark decisions, on our About Us page.
Michelle Catto is a Senior Associate at FB Rice in Australia, specialising in medical technology and engineering. With a background in medical device development, she brings an engineer’s perspective to intellectual property, helping innovators consider patents alongside regulatory, investment and commercial objectives as they build businesses with ambitions extending beyond Australia. Quick Profile Name: Michelle […]
19th August 2026
Michelle Catto is a Senior Associate at FB Rice in Australia, specialising in medical technology and engineering. With a background in medical device development, she brings an engineer’s perspective to intellectual property, helping innovators consider patents alongside regulatory, investment and commercial objectives as they build businesses with ambitions extending beyond Australia.
Quick Profile
Name:Michelle Catto Role: Senior Associate Firm / organisation:FB Rice Location: Australia – Sydney Areas of expertise: Medical technology, medical devices, engineering, patent drafting and prosecution, IP strategy, portfolio management and freedom to operate
A happy accident: from engineering to IP
Michelle describes her move into intellectual property as a “happy accident”.
She began her career at Cochlear, joining its graduate programme before moving into production engineering. The programme gave her experience across manufacturing, quality, regulatory, design, new product industrialisation and returned device analysis.
One department she never experienced was IP. “I didn’t even really think about it as an option back then,” she says.
That changed through a colleague at Cochlear who was a patent attorney but had spent time working in the regulatory team. The two stayed in touch. Several years later, when Michelle mentioned she was looking for a change, her former colleague suggested something completely different: joining her team as a trainee attorney.
Michelle started asking questions about the profession and quickly saw its appeal.
“IP is at this really interesting intersection between technology and law and business strategy,” she explains. “I really love problem solving and strategic thinking, and I’m a skilled communicator, so it really felt like a natural fit for me.”
Her engineering experience remains fundamental to the way she works. It helps her understand complex technologies quickly and connect with inventors and technical teams. In fact, Michelle jokes that she probably uses her engineering skills more as a patent attorney than she did as an engineer.
Finding a home in MedTech
Today, Michelle works within FB Rice’s broader engineering team, focusing predominantly on medical technology. It is an area particularly close to her heart.
“There’s such a tangible link to making a positive impact in people’s lives,” she says.
Her clients range from small start-ups to multinational businesses, but the common thread is solving real problems in healthcare.
For Michelle, MedTech is also intellectually fascinating because so many disciplines intersect. Science, engineering and medicine meet regulatory requirements and commercial considerations.
“Every project is interesting and different,” she says. “It’s incredibly rewarding to be part of that journey and know that the work I’m doing is feeding into something that’s actually going to help people.”
Australian innovation with global ambitions
Michelle believes Australia produces world-class research and innovation, particularly in MedTech and healthcare. “We’re a relatively small country, but in this area we often say that we punch above our weight.”
Australia benefits from a strong academic research environment. Michelle also points to the country’s growing appeal as a destination for clinical trials. Together, these factors create opportunities to develop ideas, generate evidence and validate technologies.
The greater challenge can come in moving from an innovative idea to a successful global business.
Access to capital can be more limited than in larger markets. Australian companies also often need to consider international expansion much earlier in their development. That makes joined-up strategic thinking particularly important.
Michelle believes businesses that align their IP, regulatory and commercialisation strategies early are generally better positioned for long-term success.
The relatively small domestic market also means even early-stage Australian businesses may see themselves as global companies from the outset.
“Long-term growth often means looking beyond our shores,” she explains.
Manufacturing capability, international partnerships and global networks can all influence where a company goes next. In turn, those choices have implications for IP.
Michelle therefore encourages clients to think early about where they intend to develop, manufacture and sell their products. Those decisions influence both protection strategies and the third-party risks they may encounter.
“Having that global perspective from the beginning really helps to ensure that the decisions they’re making now will support that journey as they expand.”
Looking beyond the patent
As Michelle’s career has developed, so has the nature of the advice she provides.
Early in a patent attorney’s career, she explains, much of the focus is naturally on drafting and prosecution. Deep technical and legal expertise takes years to build, often with guidance from experienced practitioners and mentors.
Those skills remain fundamental. However, Michelle’s own work increasingly involves helping clients navigate a much broader innovation ecosystem.
“In MedTech particularly, IP is one important piece of a much larger puzzle.”
Regulatory strategy, reimbursement, investment, manufacturing, market entry and commercial partnerships can all influence whether a technology ultimately succeeds.
For Michelle, an important part of her role is helping clients understand where IP fits within that bigger picture. “It’s about how you can use IP, not just to tick a box and say, ‘we’ve got a patent’, but to support your broader business objectives.”
Those conversations often start with two deceptively simple questions: where is the client now, and where do they want to go?
The answer may depend on whether a business is raising capital, building value ahead of an acquisition, seeking strategic partnerships or pursuing another commercial objective. Some clients arrive with a clear strategy. Others are still working it out.
Michelle sees her role as working alongside her clients. She cannot determine their business strategy for them, but she can help them understand the IP component and how it connects with their wider plans.
When IP unlocks something bigger
For Michelle, some of the most satisfying moments are when IP contributes to a wider commercial milestone. “I love those moments where you see IP working to help unlock something bigger.”
That could mean supporting a funding round, progress towards an IPO or a commercial partnership. The value comes from knowing that protecting important aspects of a technology is helping the client move towards a larger goal.
With established organisations, the relationship can look very different. Michelle enjoys working with in-house counsel and business leaders to understand how individual technologies fit within much larger portfolios.
This might involve tailoring prosecution strategies to broader commercial objectives. It can also involve freedom to operate work to help businesses understand and navigate third-party risks.
In both cases, the patent attorney becomes part of executing a wider strategy rather than working on IP in isolation.
Asking why nobody has done it before
There is one question Michelle particularly likes asking engineers at an early stage of developing a new medical device:
“Why hasn’t anyone done this before?”
The answer can reveal far more than might initially be expected.
If nobody has thought of the idea before, that is interesting. But Michelle finds it even more revealing when others have tried and failed.
Understanding why previous approaches did not gain traction can expose critical points of innovation. It can identify commercial risks and unexplored opportunities. It may also reveal which elements of a new technology are most important to protect.
Sometimes the previous barrier was technical. At other times, the problem was a failure to understand what the eventual users actually needed.
For Michelle, understanding the end user is an important part of looking at an innovation more broadly. Considering who will use a technology, what they need and why previous approaches may have fallen short can reveal valuable insights into both the innovation and its commercial potential.
It can also help identify which aspects of a new technology may be particularly important to protect.
Supporting the next generation in STEM
Michelle is passionate about STEM education and diversity, partly because she remembers the support she received from others.
“I really see the benefit that I’ve gained from other people investing in me, particularly other women who are more senior in the profession.”
She now wants to offer that same encouragement to others.
Michelle also believes perceptions of STEM careers can be unnecessarily narrow. Engineering and science can lead in many different directions, as her own career demonstrates.
She is involved in supporting early-stage accelerators within the MedTech sector, including through IP education and early-stage due diligence. She enjoys helping young companies understand IP while they are still finding their feet.
There is also a personal motivation.
Michelle has three daughters and wants them to grow up seeing STEM as somewhere they can fully belong, should they choose that path. As they get older, she has become increasingly interested in engaging with girls at school level.
“I’ve got a lot of good stories to tell and I’d like to share those, I think, with the next generation.”
Building careers for the long term
Michelle’s perspective on careers has also been shaped by balancing professional development with family life.
Her biggest lesson is that people have different levels of capacity at different stages of their lives. “The best workplaces are ones that are flexible enough to see someone’s value, not just in the moment, but over the long term.”
She credits FB Rice with providing the flexibility that has helped her build a sustainable career alongside raising her family. Parental leave has been particularly important. Michelle believes equitable parental leave matters not only for mothers, but for their partners too.
The leave available to her partner gave Michelle greater capacity to concentrate on returning to work. It also allowed him time to focus on family.
She would like to see more organisations offer, and encourage people to take, equitable parental leave, allowing caring responsibilities to be shared more evenly.
Life beyond IP
Outside work, family naturally occupies much of Michelle’s time. But she also enjoys finding new ways to challenge herself.
Around five years ago, she took up the cello as an adult beginner. She had learned piano growing up but had always wanted to play cello. When her eldest daughter began learning, Michelle decided to join her.
Learning together has been rewarding, although Michelle suspects her daughter may soon overtake her. Her second daughter has now started too, meaning there are currently three cellos in the family home. Her eldest has ambitions to add a double bass, creating what Michelle laughingly describes as a potential logistical problem for the car.
She also loves being outdoors. Living around an hour west of Sydney in the Blue Mountains gives her plenty of opportunities for hiking, trail running and swimming in the creeks during summer.
Her favourite local walk is Mount Solitary. Rising from the Jamison Valley, it offers expansive views back towards Katoomba and the Three Sisters, and across the surrounding landscape.
Further afield, Tasmania is somewhere she returns to repeatedly. She particularly recommends the Three Capes Track, describing Tasmania as “the most magical place I’ve ever been”.
Whether learning an instrument or heading into the mountains, stepping away from work gives Michelle a chance to use her mind differently. “I always find when I return that I’ve got new perspectives and new ideas.”
Staying open to unexpected opportunities
For engineers considering IP, Michelle’s advice reflects her own unconventional route into the profession: find mentors, talk to people and remain open to opportunities that were never part of the original plan.
She also recommends trying to understand what the work really involves before committing to it. “Find a patent attorney and ask them out for coffee,” she suggests. Ask them to explain the fundamentals of patent drafting. “It’ll either really fascinate you or you’ll quickly realise it’s not for you.”
If it is fascinating, Michelle encourages people not to assume they need to fit a particular mould. The profession combines technical expertise with communication, strategy and commercial thinking. That creates room for different backgrounds and different ways of approaching problems.
“If you’re curious and you enjoy learning and solving problems, then it can be a really rewarding career.”
For Michelle, that curiosity has taken her from engineering into a profession she had never originally considered. It now allows her to combine the technical thinking she enjoys with a much wider view of innovation, helping businesses understand not simply how to obtain IP, but how it can support the journey from an idea to commercial success.
Meet the IP Professional is a PatWorld interview series exploring the people and perspectives shaping the intellectual property profession. Discover more interviews in the Meet the IP Professional hub, and find out more about PatWorld, a global IP search provider working with IP professionals worldwide to support informed patent, design and trade mark decisions, on our About Us page.
Paul Renwick is a Patent Attorney at Marks & Clerk Singapore whose career has taken him from engineering in the UK to patent practice in New Zealand and Singapore. Qualified as an Australian and New Zealand Patent Attorney, he helps innovators protect commercially valuable inventions while bringing an international perspective to intellectual property. Quick Profile […]
12th August 2026
Paul Renwick is a Patent Attorney at Marks & Clerk Singapore whose career has taken him from engineering in the UK to patent practice in New Zealand and Singapore. Qualified as an Australian and New Zealand Patent Attorney, he helps innovators protect commercially valuable inventions while bringing an international perspective to intellectual property.
Patent drafting and prosecution, AI and software, Semiconductor technologies, Deep technology, International patent strategy
Finding engineering, and discovering IP
Paul’s interest in engineering began long before he knew intellectual property existed.
Growing up, he was always taking things apart, fixing bicycles and motorbikes and generally wanting to understand how things worked. Engineering felt like a natural choice, helped by having an engineer as a father.
It wasn’t until university that another career path emerged.
As part of his engineering degree, a patent attorney visited to explain the profession and how engineers could apply their technical knowledge in a completely different way. That presentation planted a seed.
“I did a PhD involving some IP and my supervisor was spinning out a company, so there were patents being filed. Then I worked for a semiconductor start-up that was beginning to build its own patent portfolio.”
That combination of academic research, commercial engineering and first-hand exposure to patents made the transition into intellectual property feel like the obvious next step.
Interestingly, his former employer became one of his earliest clients after he entered private practice. “It was nice seeing both sides of it. I had worked inside the company before helping them protect their technology.”
One move that changed everything
Paul began his patent attorney career in Sheffield, where he trained for three years before taking an opportunity to work in New Zealand.
Initially intended as a one-year overseas experience, the move quickly became something much bigger. “I thought I’d spend a year in New Zealand, gain some different experience and then see what happened.”
The opportunity to stay arose naturally, and one year became almost seven. During that time, Paul qualified as an Australian and New Zealand Patent Attorney under the Trans-Tasman system, building expertise in a market where international patent filing is an integral part of daily practice.
The move to Singapore was another opportunity to broaden his experience, this time within one of Asia’s leading centres for innovation and technology. Working closer to emerging industries, fast-growing companies and international clients has given him an even broader perspective on global IP strategy.
Looking back, each move has broadened both his professional experience and his understanding of how innovation develops in different parts of the world.
Although patent law across the UK, New Zealand and Singapore shares common roots, each jurisdiction applies it slightly differently. Seeing those differences first-hand has helped shape the way he approaches complex international portfolios.
“You see how each jurisdiction has implemented the law. The outcomes are often similar, but the different approaches give you a stronger background.”
Supporting innovation across Asia
Today, Paul is a Patent Attorney with Marks & Clerk Singapore, where his work centres on helping universities, start-ups and small to medium-sized businesses protect their innovations. While many of his clients are based in Singapore, his work frequently extends across Southeast Asia, reflecting Singapore’s role as a regional gateway for technology businesses.
His technical practice focuses on artificial intelligence, software, semiconductors and deep technology, sectors that continue to evolve at an extraordinary pace.
“Singapore is a bit of a hub,” he explains. “Companies from Thailand and Malaysia, and even further afield in Korea, China and Japan, often work with Singapore firms.”
English also plays an important role. Many businesses choose to draft their first patent application in English before pursuing protection in key international markets, particularly the United States and Europe. This makes Singapore an attractive base for companies with global ambitions.
For Paul, the work remains as engaging today as it was when he first entered the profession.
“I think it’s why I got into IP in the first place. You’re constantly learning about new technology and talking to inventors about the things they’re creating. You’re involved right from the start.”
Every new invention presents another opportunity to understand a different technology and help shape how it is protected commercially.
Why Singapore continues to attract innovation
Having worked in the UK, New Zealand and now Singapore, Paul has seen how different innovation ecosystems develop. While every country has its own strengths, he believes Singapore has created an environment where technology businesses can grow rapidly.
Much of that success comes from a combination of government support, universities, private investment and venture capital.
“There seems to be a lot of support for technology and innovation, from the universities through to government institutions and VC funding.”
He has also noticed how quickly Singapore embraces emerging technologies. Whether it was blockchain several years ago or artificial intelligence today, the country’s investment priorities tend to follow the leading edge of innovation.
“They really get behind new technologies. They’re trying to upskill the whole country.”
That commitment has helped establish Singapore as a significant centre for semiconductor manufacturing while also encouraging rapid growth in AI-focused businesses.
“The IP landscape evolves alongside the technology,” Paul says. “Wherever the technology is heading, the start-ups, investors and government support tend to follow.”
Thinking globally from day one
One of the biggest changes Paul has witnessed throughout his career is the increasingly international outlook of technology businesses. For many companies in Singapore and New Zealand, expansion beyond domestic markets is expected from the outset.
“The first conversation is usually about their plans. Where are they going? Which countries matter to them?”
Those answers shape the IP strategy from the very beginning. Rather than treating patents as country-specific assets, Paul works with clients to develop filing strategies that reflect manufacturing locations, future licensing opportunities and long-term commercial ambitions.
That approach has become even more important as international trading conditions continue to evolve. Recent geopolitical uncertainty and changing global trade relationships have added new layers of complexity for technology companies planning international growth.
At the same time, Paul has noticed clients increasingly seeking advice beyond patents alone. Artificial intelligence has prompted new discussions around copyright, trade marks and the protection of data.
Working alongside colleagues across the wider Marks & Clerk group, he has become involved in advising businesses on data governance and privacy issues linked to AI technologies.
Many AI businesses collect and process information from users around the world, making compliance with international privacy legislation an important consideration.
“You can’t only think about one country. If people are accessing your technology globally, you have to think globally.”
Turning innovation into valuable IP
Among the many projects Paul has worked on, two stand out for very different reasons.
The first involved an entrepreneur in New Zealand who, after suffering a serious horse-riding accident, set out to design a safer equestrian helmet.
Starting in a workshop at home, the inventor developed the product from first principles before working with manufacturers to bring it to market. Paul helped protect both the patents and the registered designs as the business grew.
“It was really rewarding to work with him over many years as he commercialised the technology.”
At the other end of the spectrum was a major semiconductor company in Singapore undertaking an extensive intellectual property audit. The project involved identifying commercially valuable innovations before developing a coordinated patent filing programme covering multiple technologies.
“It was a huge amount of teamwork,” Paul recalls. “We became deeply involved in understanding both their technology and their commercial goals.”
Although the projects differed enormously in scale, they shared something important. Both required understanding not only the technology itself, but also how intellectual property could support each client’s wider business objectives.
That combination of technical knowledge and commercial thinking continues to be one of the aspects of patent practice Paul enjoys most.
Commercial thinking makes the difference
When asked what clients value most in a patent attorney today, Paul’s answer comes without hesitation.
Commercial awareness.
It’s a lesson he learnt early in his career from one of his first mentors, and one that still shapes every conversation he has with inventors.
“My original trainer always used to ask, ‘Where’s the money coming from?'”
At first glance, it sounds like a simple question. In reality, Paul believes it changes the entire way a patent attorney approaches drafting an application.
It’s not enough to understand how an invention works. You also need to understand how the business intends to make money from it. That might influence where protection is sought, how claims are drafted or which aspects of the technology deserve the greatest emphasis.
“Understanding the technology is important, but so is understanding how you create a commercially valuable patent.”
Sometimes that means focusing on manufacturing rather than the eventual sales market. Other times it means thinking ahead to licensing opportunities or international expansion.
For Paul, intellectual property is most effective when it supports a company’s commercial objectives rather than existing in isolation.
Outside the office
Away from work, Paul enjoys activities that offer a different kind of challenge.
Rock climbing and cycling help him switch off, while Singapore’s warm climate means much of his climbing now takes place indoors or across the border in Malaysia.
Before moving to Singapore, he climbed regularly in New Zealand and the Peak District, both places that still hold special memories.
Another favourite pastime is board games. One recent favourite is Power Grid, a strategy game that rewards planning, negotiation and adapting to changing circumstances. “I think there are probably some transferable skills,” he says. “Negotiation and dealing with potential conflicts.”
His favourite hiking memories, however, belong to New Zealand. Among the many walks he recommends, the Mercer Bay Loop and the surrounding coastal trails near Muriwai and Piha stand out for their dramatic scenery.
“They’re stunning on a good day.”
Looking ahead
Looking back over a career spanning the UK, New Zealand and Singapore, Paul sees a profession that is becoming increasingly global.
Technology moves quickly, businesses often think internationally from their earliest days and intellectual property continues to evolve alongside new developments such as artificial intelligence.
Yet despite those changes, one principle has remained constant throughout his career. Never lose sight of the commercial purpose behind the technology.
For Paul, understanding innovation is only half of the job. The real value lies in helping inventors turn good ideas into commercially successful assets that support long-term growth.
It is an approach that has guided his career from his earliest days in Sheffield to advising technology businesses across Southeast Asia today.
Meet the IP Professional is a PatWorld interview series exploring the people and perspectives shaping the intellectual property profession. Discover more interviews in the Meet the IP Professional hub, and find out more about PatWorld, a global IP search provider working with IP professionals worldwide to support informed patent, design and trade mark decisions, on our About Us page.
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