A member of a specialised legal profession qualified to advise clients about protecting and enforcing their trade mark rights. A trade mark can take many forms, e.g. word, colour(s), slogan, jingle, shape: it can be virtually anything that distinguishes one person's goods or services from those of another.

Trade Mark Attorneys often advise clients about other intellectual property issues such as copyright, design, assignment and licensing matters.

What We Look For In A Trade Mark Attorney

• A good degree, a good helping of common sense and a good "feel" for language - candidates with a penchant for crosswords and Scrabble® are not discouraged!
• Excellent communications skills, especially in writing.
• Good people skills to deal with clients and explain often quite complex legal points to them.
• Confidence.
• The ability to work to tight deadlines and to handle several projects simultaneously.
• Commercial sense and awareness of what is happening in the marketplace. It helps to be the kind of person who reads the labels in supermarkets and notices advertising campaigns.

Don't Bother If...

• You can't string three words together, or suffer from verbal diarrhoea.
• You find it difficult to deal with detail as well as seeing the big picture.
• You don't want a pressured job.

The Job

The training usually takes three to four years and requires the trainee attorney to pass five Foundation Level exams and then three Advanced Level exams to qualify as a Trade Mark Attorney. The exams are very hard and very few pass first time, however they are "modular", which eases the burden.

Our clients cover a broad spectrum from sole traders to multinationals. These clients might sell anything from T-shirts to nuclear reactors. A good Trade Mark attorney needs to be adaptable to deal with these different clients.

Best Bits

• Variety of work.
• Intellectually stimulating work.
• Very financially rewarding, especially when qualified.
• Being in at the beginning of a new product launch and seeing one of "your" trade marks up on the posters and achieving recognition.

Worst Bits

• Tough exams to pass.
• Long hours on occasion.
• Constant deadlines set by clients and Patent/Trade Mark offices.