Advocacy: New blood is needed

11th Feb 2021

Aaron Wood laments the fact that firms still don’t seem to be developing junior Counsel.

Last year when I compiled the yearly and five-yearly appearances data for the Review, we saw that around 31 per cent of all disputes were being resolved via a hearing. This year, that figure has risen slightly to 35 per cent. Part of that change can be accounted for by a more stable number of hearings and a drop in the number of published decisions (down by a total of 92, or 17 per cent).

It is possible that the state of the global economy has led to fewer oppositions (or more being resolved through settlement). And where there have been hearings, what’s noticeable is that 53 per cent were carried out by Trade Mark Attorneys (TMAs) in 2020, compared with 46 per cent being undertaken by Solicitors or TMAs in 2019.

Long-term numbers

Looking at the five-year data, we can see that 31 firms have had two or more hearings per year over the period (up from 27 last year), and 61 have had at least one per year over that period (up from 52 last year). This suggests an increase overall in the relevance of dispute work for a number of practices, which is not surprising. Given the expected growth in disputes at the UK IPO as a result of Brexit, we should expect that number to grow still more, and I would imagine that a few new names will rise in the rankings off the back of marketing efforts.

Each year, we look at how tightly the appearance numbers congregate around just a few individuals. This year, the top five TMAs and Solicitors by appearances contributed 28 per cent of all appearances in that category. And this is not unique to TMAs. If we include Barristers in the figures, we see the top five individuals (regardless of background) contributing 26 per cent of the overall appearances. The top three alone contributed 20 per cent of all appearances.

Comparing the top figures for 2020 with those from 2019, we see repeat appearances by 60 per cent of members of Counsel and 50 per cent of TMAs/Solicitors. This suggests a recurring turnover of advocacy work for those Attorneys, and of course plenty of regular repeat work for those particular members of Counsel.

Next year’s outlook

Looking ahead, it is possible that the trumpeted rise in oppositions will arrive during 2021, but with the economic climate being what it is, this rise may be dampened. The arrival of Amazon’s IP Accelerator to the UK may give a small handful of firms a boost in the number of disputes they are handling. It seems likely, however, that the same names will grace the lists next year, with the only changes coming perhaps as a result of the overbooking of certain members of Counsel.

What we are not seeing at present is a gradual shift in appearances towards juniors. Some of the more recent additions to the bar are yet to make their UK IPO debuts, and there is a long list of juniors who are yet to make the UK IPO a regular source of work. Of course, it is possible that this is because they are busy supporting patent matters, but I see an iceberg looming on the horizon in relation to certain chambers. Having not established some of their juniors for this work, they are likely to fall further behind those other chambers that seem to have developed more of a “conveyor belt” of talent.

All data presented is based on the relevant calendar year(s). Raw data collected from the UK IPO by the author. Where entities are tied, they are ranked in alphabetical order. Figures are not independently audited and should not be relied on for official reporting, marketing, advertising or publicity purposes. Neither CITMA nor the CITMA Review can accept responsibility for errors or omissions.

2020 Appearances: Top 10 Firms

Position	Firm	Total
1	Blaser Mills	13
2	Wilson Gunn	7
=	Baker McKenzie	7
=	Lane IP	7
=	Stobbs IP	7
6	Bird & Bird	6
7	Dolleymores	5
=	D Young & Co	5
=	Fieldfisher	5
=	HGF	5
Murgitroyd and Potter Clarkson also made five appearances.

2020 Appearances: Top 10 TMAs/Solicitors

Position	Name	Firm	Total
1	Aaron Wood	Blaser Mills	13
2	Julius Stobbs	Stobbs IP	6
3	Andrew Marsden	Wilson Gunn	4
4	Ian Bartlett	Beck Greener	3
=	Philip Hannay	Cloch Solicitors	3
=	Rachel Wilkinson-Duffy	Baker McKenzie	3
7	Leighton Cassidy	Fieldfisher	2
=	Patricia Collis	Bird & Bird	2
=	Barbara Cookson	Filemot Technology Law	2
=	Alan Fiddes	UDL	2
Angela Fox (Maucher Jenkins), Olivia Gregory (Appleyard Lees), Chris Hoole (Appleyard Lees), Paul Kelly (FRKelly), Martin Krause (Haseltine Lake Kempner), Ross Manaton (Bromhead Johnson), Richard May (Osborne Clarke), Allister McManus (Elkington + Fife) and Hiroshi Sheraton (Baker McKenzie) also made two appearances.

2020 Appearances: Top 10 Barristers

Position	Name	Chambers/Firm	Total
1	Charlotte Blythe	Hogarth Chambers	19
2	Jamie Muir Wood	Hogarth Chambers	11
3	Philip Harris	Lane IP	7
4	Benet Brandreth QC	11 South Square	5
=	Jonathan Moss	Hogarth Chambers	5
6	Chris Aikens	11 South Square	4
=	Georgina Messenger	Three New Square	4
8	Ashton Chantrielle	8 New Square	3
=	Gwilym Harbottle	Hogarth Chambers	3
=	Victoria Jones	3PB	3
Amanda Michaels (Hogarth Chambers), Andrew Norris QC (Hogarth Chambers) and Thomas St Quintin (Hogarth Chambers) also made three appearances.

Appearances 2016-2020

The longer-term view of in-person litigation activity

2016-2020 Appearances: Top 20 firms

Position	Firm	Total
1	Blaser Mills	41
2	Stobbs IP	33
3	D Young & Co	27
4	Wilson Gunn	26
5	HGF	24
6	Bird & Bird	23
7	Haseltine Lake Kempner	22
8	Beck Greener	21
=	Potter Clarkson	21
=	Withers & Rogers	21
11	Lane IP	20
12	UDL	19
13	Marks & Clerk	18
=	Murgitroyd	18
15	CMS Cameron McKenna Nabarro Olswang	17
16	Dolleymores	15
17	Appleyard Lees	14
18	Kilburn & Strode	13
=	Lewis Silkin	13
20	Baker McKenzie	12
Fieldfisher, Mathys & Squire and Trade Mark Wizards also made 12 appearances.

2016-2020 Appearances: Top 20 TMAs/Solicitors

Position	Name	Firm	Total
1	Aaron Wood	Blaser Mills	41
2	Julius Stobbs	Stobbs IP	30
3	Alan Fiddes	UDL IP	14
4	Ian Bartlett	Beck Greener	13
5	Martin Krause	Haseltine Lake Kempner	12
6	Andrew Marsden	Wilson Gunn	9
7	Leighton Cassidy	Fieldfisher	8
=	Patricia Collis	Bird & Bird	8
=	Matthew Dick	D Young & Co	8
10	Marisa Broughton	Withers & Rogers	7
=	Barbara Cookson	Filemot Technology Law	7
=	Lee Curtis	HGF	7
=	Philip Hannay	Cloch Solicitors	7
=	Chris McLeod	Elkington + Fife	7
=	Rachel Wilkinson-Duffy	Baker McKenzie	7
16	Paul Kelly	FRKelly	6
=	Rigel Moss-McGrath	HGF	6
=	Florian Traub	Pinsent Masons	6
19	Rowland Buehrlen	Beck Greener	5
=	Angela Fox	Maucher Jenkins	5
Chris Hoole (Appleyard Lees), Jeremy Pennant (D Young & Co), Terry Rundle (Wilson Gunn), Max Stacey (Baron Warren Redfern) also made five appearances.

2016-2020 Appearances: Top 20 Barristers

Position	Name	Chambers/Firm	Total
1	Charlotte Blythe	Hogarth Chambers	57
2	Jonathan Moss	Hogarth Chambers	29
=	Jamie Muir Wood	Hogarth Chambers	29
4	Thomas St Quintin	Hogarth Chambers	27
5	Amanda Michaels	Hogarth Chambers	22
6	Philip Harris	Lane IP	21
7	Ashton Chantrielle	8 New Square	18
=	Andrew Norris QC	Hogarth Chambers	18
9	Benet Brandreth QC	11 South Square	17
=	Simon Malynicz QC	Three New Square	17
11	Chris Aikens	11 South Square	16
12	Christopher Hall	11 South Square	14
=	Michael Hicks	Hogarth Chambers	14
=	Guy Tritton	Hogarth Chambers	14
15	Michael Edenborough QC	Serle Court	13
=	Denise McFarland	Three New Square	13
17	Fiona Clark	8 New Square	11
=	Victoria Jones	3PB	11
=	Daniel Selmi	Three New Square	11
=	Nick Zweck	Hogarth Chambers	11