Intellectual property
into the law. “I considered both the solicitor and barrister routes,” she says. “But ultimately decided that I was more suited to becoming solicitor. I thought it’d be better working in a team as opposed to independently.” The financial aspect of becoming a solicitor also appealed: “City law firms can help you pay your way through law school – that was valuable to me.” As you become more senior, you take on more responsibility for the matters that you’re working on Training at Slaughter and May before making the move to Bristows, Ellen explains how the transactional work at the specialist law firm meant that Bristows was the obvious place to go a couple of years after qualifying. Now 10 years qualified, Ellen reflects on how the work she does now differs from the work she did as a trainee. “As a trainee I played a supporting role where I was drafting smaller bits of documents, doing due diligence and proofreading,” she explains. “Now as a senior associate I have more of a managing role in the transactions I’m working on, so I’m often the day-to-day contact for clients if they have questions or need advice. I also work closely with the partners in my team.” One thing’s for sure when it comes to progressing up the career ladder: “As you become more senior, you take on more responsibility for the matters that you’re working on.” Bringing innovations to market Why does Ellen love working as an IP lawyer? It’s all about getting to know the clients and the innovations they’re working
Intellectual property (IP) is an umbrella term for a variety of different rights which protect intellectual creations, such as inventions, brands, designs, and literary and artistic works. The most commonly known rights are patents, trademarks and copyright but there are also a number of other IP rights that an IP lawyer may advise on, including designs rights, trade secrets, database rights and even plant variety rights. IP lawyers advise on a range of issues relating to the protection and enforcement of IP, from infringement disputes to commercial exploitation and agreements that deal either exclusively with IP or with IP rights in the wider context of larger commercial transactions. Many lawyers specialise in either contentious or non-contentious IP work. Choosing a career as an IP lawyer can therefore mean the opportunity to do a wide variety of types of work with innovative and creative clients across different industry sectors. There’s a stereotype among lawyers that coming into law from a scientific background can only mean one thing – “when I first moved into law everyone said, ‘you’re definitely going to end up as an IP lawyer’” explains Ellen Lambrix, senior associate at Bristows. “Initially I didn’t believe them but ultimately, they were right!” Now working in Bristows’ commercial IP team, Ellen outlines her job and the various areas an IP lawyer might work in: “I describe myself as a commercial IP lawyer, or a transactional IP lawyer. There are different types of IP rights such as patents, trademarks, copyright and design rights, but I tend to specialise in patents and commercial agreements that relate to patent licensing, collaboration agreements and any contract that has to do with IP.” Moving into law from science From studying chemistry at The University of Manchester, Ellen found it a natural transition
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