NLS Legal's Intellectual Property team ruled team of the year

NLS Legal (Nottingham Law School's on-campus teaching law firm) has a small, four-person, Intellectual Property (IP) team supported by student volunteers. All the lawyers involved balance the service alongside either academic commitments or supporting other services within the firm. The team provides exclusively pro-bono advice in this complex field to individuals, sole traders and start-ups, addressing an unmet legal need in the community and expanding the firm’s commercial law offering.

The team acts across trade marks, designs and copyright providing support on contentious and non-contentious matters. To the best of our knowledge, it is the only team in England and Wales providing IP advice and representation on a wholly pro-bono basis.

In the past 12 months, the team has assisted 27 clients across 45 matters. Highlights include:

• Representing a clothing manufacturer and online retailer in proceedings against a competitor who had caused it to be all but removed from an online platform. Success meant the client has been able to rebuild its business. We believe we also secured one of the first ever, if not the first, pro-bono cost orders at the Intellectual Property Office.
• Assisting a small start-up in a dispute with a large multi-national, defending the client’s trade mark application and its business.
• Supporting a small not-for-profit organisation challenge a much larger organisation’s new branding. We were successful in assisting the client secure a rebrand by the other party.

The team provides outstanding client care. Client testimonials include:

“I think we would’ve given up without the offer of you taking on the case pro-bono”.

“I can't express how grateful I am for the teams unwavering support throughout this entire process. Your guidance and perseverance have been truly invaluable”.

“An outstanding service and I would highly recommend. I felt listened to and understood”.

This year the team has developed an expanded public legal education offering running 20 sessions to over 180 attendees. Sessions increase awareness of IP amongst local businesses and individuals and have been delivered with organisations such as Business and IP Centre Nottinghamshire, business advisory groups in Nottingham, and Nottingham Trent University. Participants commented that “The team clearly have a great understanding of the subject matter, presentation and discussion was extremely insightful. I would highly recommend this to anyone running a business or in the creative industries” and “[the sessions were] helpful with my brand development and [I] feel like it has hugely influenced me”.

In the past 12 months, the team has provided 39 law students with volunteering experience in IP, gaining them valuable insight into a competitive field and enhancing their employability skills. Several volunteers have received job offers to train as IP lawyers.

The team has a growing reputation for its IP pro bono work without which many clients would have been unable to withstand the pressure from much larger opponents. The impact of the team’s work on the local community has been significant providing “valuable knowledge to the future generation of creatives so they can prevent themselves entering difficult IP situations and protect their unique talents”.