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.
On the 21st June 2021, I received a message from another trainee in my firm that the results for the European Qualifying Examinations (EQEs) had been released online. This came as a bit of a surprise, because although we had sat these exams back at the beginning of March, we were expecting the results to be released sometime in July or even later. I promptly tried logging onto the results website, but I was met with a blank loading screen as the system struggled with everyone trying to access it at the same time. This probably wasn’t helped by the number of trainees awaiting results being double the usual, since last year’s EQEs were cancelled due to the pandemic. Nevertheless, a few hours later when I finally dared to refresh the page, I saw my results.
I’d passed all the exams! I was filled with relief that I wouldn’t have to retake any next year, especially since I’ve recently become a father and revising while looking after a young child was something I wanted to avoid as much as possible. Over the following days, it was also heartening to hear about the successes of other trainees within the firm. It seemed that we had generally done quite well.
Those of us that sat and passed all of the EQEs (you don’t have to take them all at once) are now entitled to register as European Patent Attorneys. The registration process takes a while (more so with the bumper crop of trainees this year), but once finished this will mean that we will be qualified to represent clients directly before the European Patent Office. It’s quite surreal to think that my own name could soon be appearing on important documents we file on behalf of clients at the European Patent Office! Although I don’t think this will happen immediately, I look forward to gradually becoming more independent and taking the lead on my own cases.
