A free CITMA and IP Inclusive webinar
Wednesday 28 June 2023
12:30-1:30pm
We teamed up with the Chartered Institute of Trade Mark Attorneys (CITMA) to help you understand the whys and hows of developing and delivering an EDI strategy for the workplace that creates lasting change.
With a focus on undertaking tangible action and monitoring your progress, this webinar aimed to help you form an approach that is both meaningful and strategically viable.
There is often an impulse to jump into action on EDI, brought on by a sense of urgency to “do something”. This can lead to activity that is reactive to immediate pressures, short-lived in effect and/or inadequately planned or resourced.
This webinar helped you understand the benefits of taking a more systematic approach when embedding EDI into the workplace, to ensure it has a lasting impact. Our speakers discussed their experiences within their organisations in supporting the development and implementation of EDI strategies. They also explored the importance of having a workplace EDI strategy, achieving buy-in at all levels, and identifying the metrics by which you can measure its success.
Learning outcomes
- Why having an EDI strategy for the workplace is important and what benefits it brings
- How you can create, gain buy-in and deliver the strategy within the workplace
- How to be proactive rather than reactive to EDI to create lasting change
- How to get your whole firm/organisation involved so that EDI becomes part of everyone’s everyday responsibilities
- How to identify your rationale for taking action, set goals based on evidence and make sure the change you’re seeking lasts
Meet the speakers
Our speakers were:
- Andrea Brewster OBE, IP Inclusive
Andrea is IP Inclusive’s founder and now our Lead Executive Officer. She is also a former President of The Chartered Institute of Patent Attorneys (CIPA), LawCare Champion and Chartered Patent Attorney and European Patent Attorney. Before moving into her CIPA and IP Inclusive roles she was a partner in a small regional IP practice, Greaves Brewster LLP, of which she had been a co-founder.
- Kate O’Rourke, Mewburn Ellis
As a Solicitor and Chartered Trade Mark Attorney, Kate has over 25 years’ experience in relation to trade marks and related copyright, design and internet matters and is a partner and head of trade marks at Mewburn Ellis. She is recognised as one of the Top 250 Women in IP globally in 2023.
Kate was President of CITMA from 2016-2018 and currently leads the CITMA campaign for reform of the rights of representation at the UK IPO. She started her career in a specialist IP firm in Sydney before relocating to the UK and becoming cross-qualified as a Solicitor in England and Wales and as a Chartered Trade Mark Attorney.
- Nicola Smith, UK Intellectual Property Office
Nicola is responsible for shaping and leading the UK IPO’s Inclusion and Diversity strategy, with a focus on creating an environment where everyone can bring their whole selves to work, and where their people feel valued for their cognitive diversity, lived experiences and the fresh perspectives they bring.
Nicola’s portfolio stretches right across the diversity space, but she particularly specialises in driving improvements in the Bullying, Harassment and Respect space, increasing representation in STEM and influencing more inclusive policies, practices and decision making.
She is a member of a global taskforce looking to improve diversity in the IP ecosystem, and she’s passionate about equity and creating accessible spaces for people to be and do their best.
Follow-up resources
You can access a recording of this webinar via the CITMA website here, and read their report about it here. We’ve also posted a report on our News and Features page, here.
Registration
This webinar was free of charge and open to all IP Inclusive supporters, whether or not CITMA members.