If you can do IP, you can do anything

A senior IP judge once told IP Draughts that if one can do IP, one can do anything. This comment was made in the course of an endless professional dinner, so either the judge or IP Draughts may have been a little …befuddled, but IP Draughts likes the sentiment.

Gradually, IP law is entering the mainstream, as IP issues become central to the economy. The talents of IP practitioners are increasingly being used in the mainstream of professional life. IP Draughts cites in evidence two recent examples.

1. Ian Jeffery (pictured above) has recently been announced as the next chief executive of the Law Society of England and Wales. Ian is a former managing partner, and then chief executive, of the London law firm, Lewis Silkin. He was an IP/IT lawyer before moving into general management. IP Draughts is delighted that an IP lawyer has taken on the challenge of running the Law Society.
2. IP Draughts learnt this week that Jason Raeburn, a young partner in Baker McKenzie London, is a Deputy Master in the High Court of England and Wales. He learnt this through reading a judgment of Master Raeburn on the interpretation of a licence agreement, which was published in February and can be found here. IP Draughts is a little hazy on why a Chancery Master is deciding a case on interpretation, as they are usually concerned with procedural rather than substantive issues, but good on him!

IP Draughts hopes that he lives to see IP lawyers filling the roles of Prime Minister, Lord Chief Justice, and Director-General of the CBI.