An IP Inclusive, CIPA, CITMA
and Jonathan’s Voice webinar
Thursday 10 October 2024
12.30 – 1.30 pm
Attendees joined us this World Mental Health Day for a discussion about supporting wellbeing in the IP professions. This webinar was a collaboration between IP Inclusive, CIPA, CITMA and Jonathan’s Voice and was free to attend for anyone who works in the UK’s IP sector.
Covid-19 and the resultant new working arrangements have had an impact on our community’s wellbeing and mental health – not forgetting, of course, the effects our often high workloads can have on stress levels and work-life balance. With the growing importance of mental wellbeing, work-life balance and inclusivity as factors in how happy and productive we are at work, World Mental Health Day is an opportunity to focus on these issues and talk about what the IP professions are doing.
Our panellists from a range of different working environments talked about the challenges they’ve faced in supporting staff wellbeing, mental health and work-life balance. They also shared some of the solutions that their organisations and departments have implemented, and discussed the role that hybrid working can play in delivering them.
We sincerely apologise for the inconvenience caused to those of you who were unable to access the webinar due to an error on our part in sending multiple links.
For those who were unable to join, a recording is available below.
Our panel
The discussions were be chaired by Dr Anna Molony, Founder and Director at Two IP.
Our panellists were:
- Penny Aspinall, Mental Health Consultant, Jonathan’s Voice
- Michael Carter, Partner, Intellectual Property Law and Head of Automotive IP (UK) at Gowling WLG
- Heather McCann, Partner (patent attorney), EIP
- Angela Quinlan, Managing Director at Key Patent Innovations
Anna Molony, co-founder, Two IP
Anna co-founded her first patent firm, Chapman Molony, in 2003. After almost 10 years’ building Chapman Molony, she decided she needed a better work-life balance, so she sold her shareholding and set up again on her own. In 2020, Anna decided that it was time to provide a new type of firm where other patent and trade mark attorneys could enjoy the freedom and work-life balance she had. So, she evolved her firm into Two IP, the first UK platform law firm operating a fee-share model for patent and trade mark attorneys. Two IP enables consultant attorneys to build their own practice under the Two IP brand and within Two IP’s operational ecosystem of back office, formalities and business support.
Penny Aspinall
Penelope has over 30 years’ experience as a counsellor, psychotherapist and trainer, working in a range of settings, including Zeneca (Huddersfield), Arla Foods, the NHS and in private practice as a counsellor and organisational mental health consultant. However, most of her career has been spent working in Higher Education, most recently at the University of Bradford as Head of Disability, Counselling and Mental Health.  She has been working with Jonathan’s Voice since 2019 and joined them as Mental Health Consultant and Lead trainer in early 2022.
Michael Carter
Michael is a Director in Gowling WLG’s intellectual property practice, based in Birmingham. He has extensive experience managing patent and design litigation in the English courts (from IPEC to the High Court) and coordinating international patent litigation. In his role as Head of Automotive IP (UK) Michael also has experience of advising clients on transactional issues and the development of IP & innovation strategies more generally, particularly in the automotive and engineering sectors.
Heather McCann
EIP was founded in October 2000 by Jerome Spaargaren. In 2002 Heather joined the then team of 3 at EIP from BT. Although the degree and level of involvement in growing EIP has changed over the last 22 years, she has been and remains very much part of the journey from 4 in London to 190 across London, Leeds, Bath, Cardiff, Dusseldorf, Stockholm and Denver. Our most valuable asset is our people, and mental health and wellbeing is – and has always been – a critical factor in developing EIP.
As a patent attorney, Heather divides her time between EIP’s offices in London and the US, from where she regularly advises Silicon Valley tech start-ups, SMEs and US law firms on European patent filing and prosecution strategy She has significant experience in drafting and prosecuting patent applications broadly in the field of software, with particular expertise in telecommunications inventions. She has represented clients at opposition and appeal proceedings at the EPO on numerous occasions, and provides support on patent litigation matters, worldwide and has extensive experience of developing, communicating and implementing IP strategies.
Angela Quinlan
As Managing Director of Key Patent Innovations, Angela is responsible for developing and implementing monetisation strategies for Key Patent’s portfolios, as well as managing new acquisitions and business development. In this role, she relies on her experience which spans all aspects of patent management and licensing. Angela was identified as number 16 in the Top 40 IP Market Makers of 2023 and has been consistently recognized as one of the world’s leading IP strategists (IAM Strategy 300) for the last number of years. Angela is also a member of the European Patent Institute’s IP Commercialization committee. Angela started KPI in 2020 in the depths of Covid and, as such, one of the core principles of the company is that it works in a way that is sustainable both for its employees and the communities in which we live and work. As part of fulfilling this, KPI has been very proud to partner with sports teams in our communities all the way from local under-10s teams to the Irish Olympic team.
Who’s it for?
This event was for all UK-based IP professionals who are interested in mental wellbeing. We don’t mind where you work, what role you play there or what career level you’re at. This is an important topic, which touches many and matters to all of us.
Please note that the webinar was open to all IP Inclusive supporters, whether or not CIPA or CITMA members.
Cost
This event was free. So are all our resources. That said, we do need money to keep the show on the road, so if you enjoyed the event please consider contributing via our Just Giving page. For more information, visit the IP Inclusive fundraising page.