Trainee Patent Attorney

Appleyard Lees IP LLP; Cambridge; Hybrid; GBP 100,000 - 125,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading intellectual property firm in Cambridge is seeking a trainee patent attorney to support clients in cutting-edge technology areas like AI and machine learning. Candidates should have a relevant degree or PhD and strong communication skills. The role includes mentorship and comprehensive training opportunities, alongside a 34-hour work week and various benefits including annual leave and healthcare plans.

Benefits

34 hour working week

Blended office and home working

Annual salary review

25 days annual leave plus bank holidays

Life assurance

Healthcare cash plan

Social outings and events

Birthday voucher

Charity events participation

Qualifications

• Good communication skills both in writing and verbally.
• Interest in machine learning, image recognition, object detection, speech recognition, natural language processing, and data mining.

Responsibilities

• Communicate effectively, working with attorneys in other disciplines.
• Participate in meetings with inventors and learn from qualified attorneys.

Skills

Communication skills

Teamwork

Interest in AI/machine learning

Education

Degree or PhD in Physics/Theoretical Physics, Computer Science, Mathematics, Electrical Engineering

Job description

Overview

Application Deadline: 17 October 2025

Department: Patents - Electronics & Software

Location: Cambridge

Description

START DATE: SEPTEMBER 2026

We are looking for individuals who enjoy learning about cutting-edge research and who want to apply their scientific knowledge to work outside of academia. At Appleyard Lees, you will be able to put your degree to use from day one, because you’ll be working to protect the ground-breaking innovation of some of the world’s most well-known tech companies such as Samsung. The job is intellectually challenging, as you will work on brand new innovation before anyone else hears about it, but it is also rewarding. Many of our clients are developing exciting new Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning technologies or new bioinformatics inventions, so we are looking for individuals with a background in Physics/Theoretical Physics, Computer Science, Mathematics or Electrical Engineering to train with us as a patent attorney.

We are looking for a trainee patent attorney to join our team and assist with a variety of work for a range of local and overseas clients. We welcome applications from recent graduates, as well as anyone with up to two years of experience working as a trainee patent attorney in the UK.

Key Responsibilities

• You will need to be articulate and good at communicating, particularly in writing. Our work can sometimes be multi-disciplinary and collaborative, and you will need to work with attorneys in other disciplines. For example, some of our clients use AI to identify and develop new drugs, use mathematics/statistics to diagnose and treat diseases, or use software to control medical robotic devices. So, you will need to have good people skills and be able to work in a team.
• You will be trained by our Partners and Senior Associates, and from your first day you will be working on real work for our clients. You will be able to join meetings with inventors, watch our qualified attorneys when they participate in hearings/trials, and learn from our talented paralegals. As our clients file patent applications in the UK and Europe, you will gain real experience that is directly relevant to the professional exams you will undertake. In addition to this practical experience, our trainees are given all the support they need to qualify as UK and European patent attorneys. We combine in-house exam-specific tutorials with external courses, to help our trainees to obtain the knowledge and skills they need to qualify.

Skills, Knowledge and Expertise

• Have a degree or PhD in Physics/Theoretical Physics, Computer Science, Mathematics, Electrical Engineering or similar.
• Preferably, your degree included modules focused on Artificial Intelligence/machine learning, but this is not essential.
• Knowledge of and interest in any of the following areas would be advantageous: machine learning models, image recognition, object detection, speech recognition, natural language processing, and data mining.
• Good communicator both in writing and verbally.

Benefits

We pride ourselves on being small and friendly enough for you to get to know everyone – but big enough to offer you great career prospects. We will assign you with a mentor who will be able to provide professional and personal support throughout your training contract. Providing people with a mentor is a critical part of enabling development and knowing if individuals are ‘on track’ in terms of their career path and progression, it also helps with improving knowledge and skills.

Aside from this, we will fund all of your training including memberships, exams, courses and conferences. We also encourage our technical teams to write articles for our Greenshoots platform and take part in podcasts. More information on this can be found here - Trainee blog | Greenshoots by Appleyard Lees (appleyardleesgreenshoots.com)

Other benefits we offer include:

• 34 hour working week
• A blend of office and home working
• Annual salary review
• 25 days annual leave + bank holidays
• Life assurance
• Healthcare cash plan
• Social outings - summer parties, AL Junior events, Christmas party and more
• A voucher on your birthday
• Charity events - games nights and fuddles
• A friendly and inclusive place to work and learn