Event Listing

Lee Davies has been the Chief Executive of the Chartered Institute of Patent Attorneys (CIPA) since February 2012. Prior to this, Lee was the Deputy Chief Executive of the Institute for Learning (IfL), the professional body for further education teachers. Lee’s professional background is in engineering (mechanical services) and further education teaching. Lee has experience of the governance of professional bodies, having served as the President of the Chartered Institute of Plumbing and Heating Engineering (CIPHE) in 2011-12.
Lee says that such a varied career, from apprentice plumber to CEO of CIPA, via organisations such as the Highbury College in Portsmouth, the Workers’ Educational Association (WEA) and IfL, has left him a little confused about his professional identity. Lee now identifies as an ‘association leader’, although the concept of association leadership is, in Lee’s words, “woefully undervalued and little recognised in the UK”. Lee is a passionate advocate for the association sector and is President and Chair of the Institute of Association Leadership (IAL), where he leads the Chief Executives’ Forum.

I’m a part qualified European patent attorney and a qualified Indian patent attorney. I handle patent applications in the field of information and communication technology, software applications related to AI and ML.

Before starting my journey to become a European patent attorney, I’ve worked with renowned IP law firms in India and prosecuted patent applications for multinational companies at the Indian patent office. I’ve also been part of big IP service providers in India where I’ve worked on patent search and analytics.

Simon is a Divisional Director and SRO of Transformation, Manage Services and Customer, and has been a public servant for more than 25 years.

He has been at the IPO for thirteen years, having started his career with nine years in Ministry of Justice on frontline delivery of court services, before spending five years in the Wales Office, including a stint as Private Secretary to the Secretary of State for Wales.

Simon is helping to shape the IPO’s transformation. He’s led work to modernise services and improve customer experience and is passionate about leadership that supports people through change.

Christina is a Key Account Manager and Patent Administration (PA) expert. She has worked with the EPO since 2003 in different positions and has been a PA expert for 20 years. Since 2015 she is a Key Account Manager and has participated in various projects around the EPO’s Online tools and services.

She has accompanied the roll out of MyEPO to the user community since its launch.

Sandrine joined WIPO as a translator of PCT published application abstracts. With a degree in management and communications, she transitioned into a role focused on the promotion of WIPO Global Databases.

Jonathan became Senior Partner of John Venn & Sons in 2019 (with the firm itself having been in existence since the mid-19^th century). He is a linguist by background and studied translation to masters-degree level prior to joining his firm 29 years ago.  He acts for a wide range of clients with notarial and translation requirements, and within the IP sector is instructed by multinationals, SMEs, universities, and specialist IP firms (in the UK and abroad).  He served as Honorary Secretary of the Society of Scrivener Notaries for 15 years and is recognised within the notarial profession for his contribution to regulatory matters and engagement with the legal services sector.

Debbie is a Senior Patent Attorney at Granta IP Services Ltd. She is a member of Council and Chair of the Education Committee. She is a Co-Editor of the Patents Training Manual and currently working on the development and delivery of the Advanced Patent Paralegal Course.

Vicky is a proven IP specialist with a wealth of experience, working within various aspects of Intellectual Property. She has been working for D Young & Co since January 2024 as IP Practices Manager.

Vicky works very closely with the Chartered Institute of Patent Attorneys as a member of the Education Committee. She is the Chair of the sub-committee responsible for the development of the Advanced Patent Administrators’ Course. Vicky is also the only IP specialist in the UK working with the EPO to deliver a structured and comprehensive certification for patent paralegals who work with, or for the EPO – the European Patent Administrator’s Certificate. Vicky passed the CIPA Certificate in Patent Administration qualification in 2007. She became a Fellow of the Institute of Paralegals in 2011 and a qualified teacher in 2015. She passed the Post Graduate Certificate in Intellectual Property at Bournemouth University in 2018.

Dora is the Learning & Development Manager and joined The Chartered Institute of Patent Attorneys in May 2022. Her responsibilities include supporting committees focused on education and professional development (the Education Committee and the IP Paralegal Committee); providing full administrative support for, and overseeing the delivery and development of the Introductory Patent Paralegal Course (IPPC) and the Advanced Patent Paralegal Course (APPC); planning and delivering CIPA events, and assisting the Membership team as required.

She is also leading the implementation of PebblePad, a new online learning platform for CIPA members. Prior to joining CIPA, Dora worked in the property sector. She has over 14 years’ experience as a volunteer event coordinator for a range of organisations and charities. Dora holds a Master of Arts in Archaeology from Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest, Hungary.

Chris Clarke is a senior patent attorney at Vectura, working on medical devices and pharmaceutical formulations. He handles the full range of patent work including drafting, prosecution, oppositions and appeals, freedom to operate opinions and advising on the IP aspects of agreements. He has been a FD4 tutor and mentor for resitters for about 10 years.

Annemarie is a highly skilled paralegal with over 25 years of experience, her responsibilities including the preparation and delivery of training and training materials for paralegals, the standardisation of work and the career development and continuing professional development for paralegals.  Annemarie also manages a large portfolio of patents and designs, liaising closely with attorneys, outside counsel and clients.

Annemarie is currently the Chair of CIPA’s IP Paralegal Committee, as well as a Lead Course Tutor and Examiner for the official paralegal qualification of the UK registered patent profession.  Annemarie gained the European Patent Administration Certification in 2022 and is also currently involved in the preparation of course materials for the CIPA advanced paralegal qualification.