Walker Morris continues investment in talent as IP lawyer earns Oxford University Diploma
24th August 2021
Leading law firm, Walker Morris, is celebrating senior associate, Matthew Lingard, following his completion of Oxford University’s Postgraduate Diploma (PGDip) in Intellectual Property Law and Practice, which he passed with Merit.
The one-year course, which Walker Morris funded, is taught by industry leading senior practitioners and academics, and is entered through a competitive intake of IP professionals across top tier and magic circle firms.
Matthew joined Walker Morris’ intellectual property team in 2017 having qualified at an award-winning boutique firm and regularly advises clients on all aspects of intellectual property, AI and other new disruptive technologies. His latest achievement bolsters the expertise of the specialist IP team and reinforces Walker Morris’ commitment to investing in talent and nurturing lawyers of the future, as it focuses on creating engaging and long-term careers for colleagues. This success follows the recent hiring of Senior Chartered Trade Mark Attorney Sakura Proctor, who joined Walker Morris from an international law firm.
The firm’s award-winning team offers specialist advice across the full spectrum of intellectual property law and its lawyers are trusted by many household names to manage and protect their highly valuable brands and technology. The team includes both solicitors and chartered trade mark and design attorneys, enabling Walker Morris to provide a complete service for all intellectual property matters, including the capture, commercialisation and protection of intellectual property.
The excellent work undertaken by the team has recently been recognised as they have been shortlisted for the “Intellectual Property Award” in the upcoming Yorkshire Legal Awards.
Alan Harper, Director in Walker Morris’ intellectual property team, said:
“As a firm we are making a significant investment in talent acquisition and development to grow our business and practice expertise, to further reinforce our position as the pre-eminent firm outside of London.
“Matthew is an absolute asset to our team and it was a joy to support him through his Postgraduate Diploma at Oxford University over the last 12 months. This qualification marks out serious practitioners within intellectual property and increases the specialist expertise within our team. I am thrilled to congratulate Matthew in earning a Merit in completion of the course.”
Matthew added:
“I am very grateful to the firm and my colleagues in the intellectual property team for their unwavering support whilst I completed my studies over the last year. Not only have I earned a postgraduate qualification from Oxford University, enabling our team to offer an enhanced level of service to our clients, I was able to generate valuable business development opportunities as a result of the face-to-face elements of the course which I can now take forward to build our practice further.”
Walker Morris has followed a strategy of investing in the full spectrum of commercial legal expertise including specialist practice areas such as competition law, financial services and consumer finance which, typically, are reserved for City firms. While Walker Morris works with a number of Yorkshire clients, it also works with national and international clients, with a fifth of its clients headquartered overseas.
Click here to read more about Walker Morris’ intellectual property team.
