Page published on 7th January 2025
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We’re delighted to announce that as of 1 January 2025, James St Ville KC (8 New Square) has assumed the role of Chair of our governing body IP Inclusive Management (IPIM). He succeeds Michael Silverleaf KC of 11 South Square, who nevertheless remains as an IPIM member.
James commented:
“It is an honour and a joy to become chair of IP Inclusive Management for 2025. I look forward to a dynamic and mutually supportive year. IP Inclusive is an amazing organisation with the genius of the IP Inclusive communities at its heart, open to all those with the characteristics they address and, in my view crucially, their allies. Michael Silverleaf has been a selfless and insightful chair from 2021 to 2024 and I would like to thank him for all he has done, following in the footsteps of Andrea Brewster and Ben Buchanan as chair of IPIM, in such an effective and self-effacing manner.”
Michael added:
“It has been a privilege and a pleasure to have chaired IPIM since it was set up in its current form but I leave the role safe in the knowledge that my successor will ensure that the board continues and enhances IP Inclusive’s central role in improving diversity and inclusion across the IP professions.
“When Andrea first asked me to be part of the management team, I accepted with enthusiasm. I have long been concerned about the levels of inequality and discrimination in our society and the lack of diversity throughout the managerial and professional spectrum. Women and ethnic minorities are gravely under-represented at senior levels across the board and we all suffer as a result. Unconscious bias is a concept that has finally become mainstream after many years when senior members of society essentially refused to accept it existed, believing themselves immune to the preconceptions they take from their background. My journey to the knowledge that fairness, equality and mutual understanding need to be actively promoted started when I was young and realised that teachers’ favourites received far better treatment than others. When I was one, I found it uncomfortable. My education continued as a young member of the bar when I saw precisely the same discrimination being practised by judges, who treated some advocates far more kindly than others. We all need to grasp that our view of others is shaped by our upbringing and experiences and that our understanding of those with different views or beliefs or from different cultures may be inaccurate and damaging both to them and to us.
“IP Inclusive’s mission to enhance diversity and inclusion is critical and needs to be fully supported by everyone in every way they can. I wish James, Andrea and the team every success for the future and I shall be standing shoulder to shoulder with them as long as I am able.”
Michael Silverleaf KC
James St Ville KC
IP Inclusive would like to take this opportunity to thank Michael for chairing IPIM since its inception, in its current form, in June 2021. He has led it with a light touch but a steady hand, and above all with huge commitment to the IP Inclusive cause. IPIM is now significantly larger than in 2021 and plays a vital role in overseeing and steering IP Inclusive’s activities, including the work of the executive team that handles our day-to-day management. Michael was also a founding member of IP Inclusive Management when it was first established back in 2018.
We wish James every success in his new role at the helm, and look forward to working alongside him as IP Inclusive moves into its second decade. James is also a long-standing IPIM member, having joined in 2020 following a particularly inspiring annual meeting(!).
Click here to find out more about IPIM.