About David Jasiewicz: I’m David, a trainee patent attorney in our Manchester office. I have a background in chemistry and before joining Appleyard Lees I worked in a patent law firm in Japan. Outside of work I enjoy playing tennis, and more recently looking after my new born daughter.
In October, trainee patent attorneys sat down at their computers to sit the UK qualification exams. These are quite difficult and saw most of us putting in months of revision to maximise our chances of success. To celebrate the end of this stressful period, the CIPA Informals (an association of trainee patent attorneys) for the North-West region recently organised (and subsidised) a social in Manchester. This was the first in-person event for a long time, so it was quite exciting to get together again.
The social started with some drinks, which I sadly missed. However, I arrived in time for some authentic Neapolitan pizza. The pizza was delicious (and filling), but I was surprised by how many people had turned up – enough to fill three long tables! Past socials had usually been fairly well-attended, but this felt like a record. It was good to chat to fellow trainees from Appleyard Lees and from other firms, including some familiar faces.
Next, we moved to an arcade gaming bar where we were given a drink and a cup of tokens to use at the numerous arcade machines dotted around the room. I’ll admit that this was right up my alley, although a particular member of the Informals totally demolished me on a retro athletics game. My honour was partially restored when I stepped into an ongoing co-op session of a classic light-gun shooting game. The machine gobbled up our tokens as we kept on dying, but we finally managed to beat the final boss just as our stock had run dry – something I never achieved as a teenager with limited pocket money!
The Informals socials are always good fun and one of the highlights of being a trainee. I look forward to the next one!
