Specialising in the Physics, Engineering, and IT team, prosecution work sees Zayd collaborating with colleagues and clients that span the globe.
9.30am
Before I do anything in the morning, I boot up the computer and go to the kitchen to make myself a quick coffee. When I'm back at my desk I check for any urgent deadline that may have appeared in my inbox.
Thankfully there isn’t anything that requires immediate attention and I can get to preparing for a call with Jim Pearson – one of the partners in Bath – about a case that we’re working on together.
10am
At this time on most days I’m getting on with preparing a response to an examination report, or drafting correspondence to a client, but today I have a long call with Jim discussing the relevance of some prior art documents to our client’s application.
The call relates to a specification that is due to be refiled, following a visit we made last week to the client’s offices to discuss the invention with inventors. Given the client’s deadline is quite soon, this case is taking priority over the other cases on my to-do list.
12pm
We break off the call for the Phys/Eng/IT team meeting. This is a conference call across all three offices that happens every Monday and allows all the attorneys to keep everyone in the team in the loop on the latest developments. If anyone is particularly busy, or is looking for more cases to take on, this is a good opportunity to let the team know.
12.30pm
Just as I’m about to leave the office to get some food, I’m asked if I’m available to take an interview candidate out for lunch. This doesn’t happen often, but it’s a good way for the candidate to ask any questions they might have about life at the firm in a more informal setting.
1.30pm
Jim and I resume our call and start wrapping up the amendments to the specification and reporting email that will be sent to the client. This takes most of the afternoon due to the quantity of prior art documents cited by the examiner, which needs a significant amount of time to work through each citation, analysing them for any disclosure of the invention.
4pm
All finished! I make a note to expect correspondence acknowledging receipt of our email, and check my inbox for anything that has come in since this morning. Nothing has come in so I start making some headway on a search report for a US agency case. The deadline isn’t for a few months but it will be best to give the instructions to the US attorneys within the next few weeks.
5.30pm
As expected, I’m going to have to continue working on that search report tomorrow. I also make a note that we haven’t received confirmation that our email that was sent earlier today has been received, and if we don’t receive anything by tomorrow mid-morning we’ll likely send a follow-up email. As there’s nothing urgent requiring me to stay in the office I get to leave on time.
"“Working with Partners across our London, Bath, and Cardiff offices means I get exposure to a broad range of clients across a diverse range of technical fields. This is invaluable experience as a trainee.”"
