Trainee Patent Attorney

Appleyard Lees & Co; Leeds, Manchester; Hybrid; GBP 30,000 - 40,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading company in Leeds is seeking a Trainee Patent Attorney to work on innovative technologies. The role offers hands-on experience, mentoring, and support for professional qualifications. Successful candidates will have a background in physics or engineering and strong communication skills.

Benefits

Annual salary review

25 days annual leave + bank holidays

Holiday Purchase Scheme

Life assurance

Healthcare Cash Plan & Wellbeing App

Group Income Protection

Social events

Vouchers for special occasions

Qualifications

• Degree or PhD in Physics, Engineering or related discipline required.
• Ability to manage multiple priorities effectively.

Responsibilities

• Work with attorneys on patent applications in the UK and Europe.
• Participate in meetings with inventors and learn from qualified attorneys.

Skills

Communication

Logical Thinking

Client Management

Prioritization

Education

Degree or PhD in Physics

Degree or PhD in Engineering

Job description

Trainee Patent Attorney

Application Deadline: 30 May 2025

Department: Patents - Engineering & Physics

Employment Type: Permanent - Full Time

Location: Leeds or Manchester

Description

START DATE: September 2025
OFFICE LOCATION: We have opportunities in Leeds and Manchester

We are looking for an individual who enjoys 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, as you’ll be working to protect the ground-breaking innovation of some of the world’s most well-known tech companies. The job is intellectually challenging, and you will work on brand-new innovation before anyone else hears about it.

Our clients are developing exciting new medical technologies and consumer electronics. For instance, some of our clients are developing new smartphone technology, and others are applying computer vision techniques to various applications, including medical diagnostics. So, we are looking for individuals with a background in physics, engineering or a related discipline.

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. 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/oppositions, 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 obtain the knowledge and skills they need to qualify.

Skills, Knowledge and Expertise

• Have a degree or PhD in Physics, Engineering or a related discipline.
• Ability to take on large amounts of information and think logically.
• Good communicator both in writing and verbally.
• Commitment to meeting client expectations.
• Ability to prioritise competing tasks and manage multiple priorities effectively.

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)

We also offer:

• A supportive and friendly place to work and learn
• Annual salary review
• 25 days annual leave + bank holidays
• Holiday Purchase Scheme
• Salary Exchange
• Life assurance
• Healthcare Cash Plan & Wellbeing App
• Group Income Protection
• Long Service Milestones
• Social events
• Vouchers on your birthday, at Christmas and for Special Occasions
• Charity events