Managing IP’s International Women’s Leadership Forum was held in London this week and proved to be a very worthwhile day for both inhouse counsel and private practice attendees.

Emma Barraclough, Group Editor of Managing IP kindly invited me to attend and to prepare a series of short follow up articles for the IPcopy blog. These will be posted on IPcopy over the next few weeks. Emma is one of the driving forces behind the development of the Women in IP network and the London forum follows on from successful events she hosted in New York and San Jose last year.

The London event had 170 IP lawyers, patent attorneys, trade mark attorneys or IP managers, pretty evenly split between private practice and inhouse counsel, including companies, universities and research-based organisations. The format was very simple, with a single stream of eight sessions covering a wide range of current IP legal and management issues. Each session had between three and five panellists – generally a mix of private practice / government and inhouse professionals – run as a Q&A by the panel chair. It was noticeable that with the exception of the two sessions that involved more detailed and complex information, presentation slides were not used.

As an approach it worked extremely well, with an emphasis throughout on practical advice and examples drawing on the panellists’ experience. Feedback from attendees I spoke to was very positive.

Follow up articles will be posted on IPcopy during the next few weeks on the various conference sessions, including Strategies for IP litigation, Trademark, Copyright and Anti-counterfeiting strategies, and the importance of leadership in developing your career.

More information on the Women in IP Network can be found at their website or by emailing Lauren Kerr (Lauren.Kerr “@” euromoneyny.com).

Keith Turner 27 February 2015