What’s important to me?

Trust – I work hard to engender trust within my team and with my clients.  I am a firm believer in Lencioni’s 5 tiers (described in “5 dysfunctions of a Team”).  Respecting other’s viewpoints and showing a consistency of approach flow from this.  My mindset is directed to continuous learning, maintaining a sense of community, and making time to have fun.

My ‘Gallup Strengths’ are Adaptability, Achiever, Connectedness, Learner and Belief.  I work to these strengths and my team complements those strengths with theirs.

What I like about my job

What really excites me about my role as founder and patent attorney is building a business which supports others’ businesses.  By staying accountable with a laser focus on our mission and values, my work is really satisfying and enjoyable.  Each of our clients has a strong mission and that inspires me.  Whether it is in Life Sciences, Cleantech, Agritech or other fields, many of those businesses will go on to make a huge difference to people’s health and livelihoods.  Those missions become ours and drive me forward.

To support this work, we look to build long-term relationships with our clients and regularly invest in doing so.  Please get in touch to understand how we do this.  

What I do

In terms of direct clients, our sweetspot is SMEs and Spin Outs.  In particular, we work for a number of Spin Outs in the Oxford area.  Wherever our clients are based or however they started, we look to become integrated into our clients’ businesses so that they can turn to us knowing that we have the depth of knowledge of their business to feedback quickly. 

We try to provide an ‘in house’ service on an outsourced basis.  As such, we cover all types of IP: patents, trademarks, designs, copyright and IP agreements.  Key to our approach is helping our clients to manage their know-how and trade secrets.  These are often overlooked in favour of patents – we try to bring a more holistic view of IP strategy to bear.  Where IP is licensed in, we help companies decide how to manage that process.  We cut through the jargon and provide strategic advice.

We also handle incoming European or UK work, referred to in the trade as ‘agency’ work.  This allows us to work with some truly inspiring technology from across the globe, as well as exposing us to great attorneys in other jurisdictions.  I have learned a lot and many of them I now call friends.

How I work

Early engagement with clients is important to me.  It takes time and effort to understand someone’s business, so we invest in doing just that. 

I prefer to speak to people rather than email.  It is not to say that email does not have its place – in my view regular focused catch ups aids decision making and builds stronger relationships. 

The concept of Deep Work put forward by exponents such as Cal Newport is something that I am learning a lot from and always look to implement.

In my spare time…

First and foremost, I am a family man.  I love cycling (in all its forms) and the outdoor life: I am a Scout leader for my local troop and a Rugby coach at our nearby club.  I have 3 boys and given those activities, mud seems to feature in our life a lot. 

Current projects of mine are to: bivvy out (sleep outdoors without a tent) once every season; organise a winter hike for the Scout group; rebuild our rugby team after the pandemic; and complete a 3-5 day off-road cycle tour (combining bivvying and bikes). 

It’s great to aim high, but most days walking our dog is sufficient to give me thinking time.