Whatever your role, working at Abel + Imray is about:
Being open
In an environment that’s welcoming and supportive, we get the best out of each member of every team.
Investing time to truly understand
We want to understand how our clients’ businesses work, their commercial positions, and what makes them tick. We enjoy getting into the detail. Our people will ask the right questions, listen and distil the information, and see the bigger picture. Truly understanding a client’s business allows us to really add value and partner with our clients, working with them, not merely working for them.
Taking time to understand is not limited to our client work. We make the effort to truly understand each other, our differences, our similarities and how to get the best out of one another. Everyone has good days and everyone has bad days. Having a culture in which we understand each other, and know each other, means that when someone has a less than perfect day this can be treated with compassion and understanding and as an opportunity to learn and grow. We care about our people.
Caring about the work we do
We thrive on success not because we have success-fees or have an eat-what-you-kill culture (far from it), but because we genuinely care about our client’s and their businesses and our client relationships. People here are motivated by the desire to achieve and please our clients and to do the best job we can in all the circumstances. That means acting with integrity and professionalism and putting the client’s needs first. Like all businesses, we want to thrive and be profitable but we are not driven to maximise profit at any cost.
Finding a balance
Ours is a family-friendly firm. Because, by helping employees balance work and home life, in supporting and challenging them, we know they’ll be able to offer our clients superb service – every day. We offer:
- An atmosphere friendly to part-time working, right up to and including the partnership level
- The possibility of regular home working
- Flexible working arrangements
- Private medical insurance
- An income protection scheme and life assurance
- Season ticket loans and a cycle to work scheme
Joining forces
There are times – and cases – when two, three or many more heads are better than one. So you’ll often find us partnering on cases, both in-house and with organisations worldwide. But it’s not just limited to our attorneys. Every day sees our legal professionals and support teams work closely together. Collaboration is often mentioned by other employers, but for us it is part of our DNA. We enjoy working with each other and thrive on working relationships where the client trusts us to the extent that we are effectively an extension of their in-house team.
Inspiring day-to-day
We split our time between direct client and agency cases. This gives everyone, at every level, the opportunity to work closely with clients’ commercial and technical divisions, on a range of innovations and IP challenges.
Standing for equality
We’re proud to be an equal opportunities employer, an early Signatory to the IP Inclusive scheme and are also pleased to be a sponsor of Careers in Ideas which works to support anyone considering a career in the world of intellectual property, along with those that support them in their choices such as careers advisors, teachers, and parents. We also have a dedicated Diversity and Inclusivity group, continually looking at ways to improve the inclusive nature of the working environment. The group have recently (2019) undergone a “Steps to Inclusion” review, with Focal Point Training. Director of Development, Stella Chandler had this to say about how we are doing: "Lots of people say they are creating a diverse and inclusive environment, Abel + Imray really are doing it. They constantly ask "What else can we be doing?". They are a very impressive firm." We are also a supporting signatory of the Women in Aviation and Aerospace Charter.
This is supported by the senior leaders of the firm as evidenced by the IP Inclusive Senior Leaders’ Pledge made by the firm’s senior partner in 2021.
Sharing expertise
As a training firm, we are committed to coaching and mentoring our people to the next level, whether attorneys or in support roles. This culture is not limited to progressing our own people.
Through supporting a national technology competition for schools, we show students how to protect their intellectual property. We also regularly work with the UK Intellectual Property Office to promote IP awareness, giving talks at IP Masterclasses and running a patent drafting workshop for trainee patent attorneys. We are engaging in the mentoring programmes run both by Careers in Ideas and the Social Mobility Foundation.
