Advocacy for Patent Attorneys
CPD Training provides advocacy courses for Patent Attorneys, from general public speaking training to Higher Rights of Audience. Several major patent firms have hired us to train their practitioners.
Our clients for this work include
Carpmaels & Ransford • Cohausz & Florack • Lincoln IP • Mathys & Squire • Maucher Jenkins • Potter Clarkson • Williams Powell • Withers & Rogers
What our clients say
“Peter Lyons is the most highly skilled trainer I have encountered in more than 30 years of professional life. His preparation is flawless and his knowledge deep. He has an approach to course delegates that puts them at their ease, regardless of ability or experience level. As a result the learning process is both enjoyable and highly effective, even when the concepts and techniques taught are advanced ones or are unrelated to one’s previous experience.”
Timothy Powell / Partner, Potter Clarkson
“Peter Lyons has a wealth of knowledge and anecdotes which he willingly shares with the course participants, thereby making the whole experience fun and enjoyable. At the same time, attorneys at all levels benefited from the challenging scenarios presented to them and went away better advocates. I would happily recommend this course to others.”
Richard Jackson / Managing Partner, Carpmaels & Ransford
“The course was excellent. I have already done 2 courses on advocacy. This was better-structured, focused, involved immediate feedback and constructive criticism.
“The fact that the content was not IP focussed really helped with the task at hand: to learn advocacy.
“The teaching was also excellent. There were excellent materials and [it was delivered] at a perfect pace and a [good] ratio of teaching to hands-on practice. It was the best constructive criticism I have received in a while. It was challenging and confidence-boosting. Fun!”
Dr Lara Elder / Senior Associate, Carpmaels & Ransford LLP
Public speaking and presentation skills
Our confidence-building courses focus on making you an effective presenter. We concentrate on improving the content of your presentations as well as giving you suggestions on your delivery. Each time you perform, you will receive a positive but fair critique from a very experienced trainer. If you wish, we will video your performance and play it back to you in a private session.
Appearing before patent tribunals
This course is designed to bring out your best persuasive qualities before patent tribunals. It covers the organisation of your materials; the structure of your submissions and how you deal with your opponent. It also concentrates on how to best handle the tribunal’s questions. Finally, we give you sensible suggestions on how to persuade a tribunal.
Interim applications
Interim advocacy performs a vital function under the Civil Procedure Rules. It assists the court in defining and narrowing the issues, encouraging the parties to co-operate with each other and often making it less likely that a case will go to trial.
Some cases are not easy. Applications for summary judgment, strike-out and specific disclosure can present quite complex questions and there is often little time to persuade a court. The courts' resources are limited. The judges who hear interim applications - usually Masters and District Judges - are busy and pressed for time. The best advocates are usually the best organised. The challenge for the advocate in an interim application is "how can you be simple, succinct and persuasive and still assist the judge in getting the decision you want?"
This course achieves all those things by asking you to play the advocate in realistic situations and giving you positive and helpful critiques on your performance.