Our Team
We are a firm of European and UK Chartered Patent Attorneys, and European Trade Mark & Design Attorneys (also known as Patent and Trade Mark Agents or I.P. Lawyers).
All our attorneys are members of the Chartered Institute of Patent Attorneys, and we are regulated in the UK by IPREG.
Lewis Hands - Managing Director
Lewis is both a UK Registered Patent Attorney and a UK Registered Trademark Attorney. He is also both a Chartered Patent Attorney (CIPA) and a Chartered Trademark Attorney (CITMA). Furthermore, he is a European Patent Attorney (EPI), and is also authorized to handle Irish trademarks.
Lewis graduated from Imperial College, London with an engineering honours degree. He then spent more than 10 years working as an engineer, project manager and senior manager in the engineering industry.
Lewis has gained considerable experience in the intellectual property (IP) sector working for one of the largest private practice patent attorney firms in Europe, in-house for a large multi-national manufacturer of fmcg, and for a medium sized private practice patent attorney firm where he formed very good relations with many SMEs, private individuals and multi-nationals.
His experience lies in the field of mechanical and electrical engineering and software related inventions and innovations. For example, he has worked with medical devices, renewable energy, automotive components, refrigeration systems, optical communications, oil and gas, general consumer products, baby-related products and mobile phone technology.
He has experience of all forms of intellectual property especially patents, designs, trade marks, copyright, licensing, development agreements and confidentiality agreements. Lewis is a member of CIPA's Design & Copyright Committee.
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Richard Smith - Director
Richard is a qualified European and United Kingdom Chartered Patent Attorney with a degree in Physics and 15 years experience working in the patents field. Richard gained his degree at Oxford University, where he specialised in renewable energy generation. Richard is also authorised to act before the Irish Patent Office.
Richard has worked in a diverse range of technical fields including Electrical, Mechanical and Civil Engineering, Electronics & Telecommunications, Computing & Software, Data Processing, Medical Devices and Procedures, Textiles, and Pharmaceuticals.
Richard deals with patents, designs & trade marks in the UK, Europe and (via our trusted foreign associates) in other parts of the world such as the USA, Canada, Australia, India, Korea and Japan.
Richard has received the Intellectual Property Litigation Certificate, thereby qualifying him as an "IP Litigator - Patent" to conduct litigation in the Intellectual Property Enterprise Court and to conduct appeals in the High Court from decisions of the UK IPO.
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Robert Topley - Associate
Robert is a qualified and experienced UK Chartered and European Patent Attorney. Robert obtained an undergraduate degree in Electronic Engineering from Surrey University and a PhD from Southampton University in the same field.
His specialisms include Optoelectronics, Electronic Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Telecommunications, Computing, Software and Nanotechnology.
Robert completed a year in industry, during his university education, at 3M in their Systems Engineering Laboratory. He worked on unique and bespoke technologies including capacitive sensing, thermal imaging, electromagnetic interference, chemical tracking and RFID.
Having achieved a PhD scholarship from a consortium, Robert predominantly investigated wafer scale testing at the Optoelectronic Research Centre at Southampton University and went on to become a Post-Doctoral Researcher in the same research group. Robert has given conference talks around the world in locations including Tokyo, San Francisco, Shanghai, and the Royal Society in London.
Robert has received the Intellectual Property Litigation Certificate, thereby qualifying him as an "IP Litigator - Patent" to conduct litigation in the Intellectual Property Enterprise Court and to conduct appeals in the High Court from decisions of the UK IPO.
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Katrina Peebles - Patent Attorney
Katrina is an experienced UK and European patent attorney with a BSc in Biochemistry with Biotechnology and Microbiology, and an MSc in the Management of Intellectual Property Law. Katrina assists us with our biotechnology, chemistry and pharmaceutical work.
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Samuel Taylor - Technical Assistant
Sam has a BEng in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Exeter, and used to work as a Patent Examiner at the UK Intellectual Property Office.
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Michael Sleeman - Technical Assistant
Michael studied at Durham, graduating in 2019 with a MPhys in Theoretical Physics.
Michael's final year project explored possible ways of modelling the dynamics of cyclists in a peloton, particularly in scenarios involving crosswinds, which have the potential to cause a split in the peloton. This project drew on research in a variety of different fields, including the mechanics of riding a bike; human physiology and power output capabilities; crowd/flock dynamics; and cycling aerodynamics, as well as a basic understanding of race craft and tactics employed by racing cyclists.
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Alexandria Lovell - Trainee Trademark Attorney
Alexandria graduated from Brown University, USA with a BA (honours) degree in English and Italian Studies. She also attended the University of Bristol, receiving an MA degree in English in 2022. Alexandria is currently training as a trade mark attorney and studying for the CITMA paralegal qualification.
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Kara Dancey - Office Manager
Kara is presently studying for the Foundation Certificate in Accounting. As well managing the offices, Kara handles all IP renewals and financial matters for us.
Kara has over 12 years' experience within customer service within various different industries and has particular experience of managing office systems and creating and implementing new administration systems.
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Ellen Miller - Administrative Assistant
Ellen graduated from Kingston University and has since gained administrative experience in her previous role as a client manager, ensuring clients were always kept happy. Ellen handles our trademark matters but also assist with other paralegal and administrative duties.
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Jane Fox - Finance Assistant
Jane's background is one of logistics management in the luxury goods market having worked for both L'Oreal and LVMH.
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