Founding director Dr Alistair Hindle noted a Brexit effect, with growth including work from patent and trade market attorneys in other European countries who now need UK partners for the first time in decades.

Dr Hindle said: “Our growth has also been driven by various Scottish technology companies raising money, innovating, protecting their IP, and succeeding. During the pandemic there was a bit of a boom, with a lot of people who had been talking about filing a patent application for years finally getting around to it.”

He added: “Overall, there is a growing understanding that intellectual property is critical to the long-term success of start-up and scale-up businesses but requires substantial investment in the early days. This now seems to be well understood by investors in early-stage companies, and we have seen an increase in young companies who have IP and have managed to raise the funding to protect it.”

University of Cambridge graduate Chris Cottingham is an experienced intellectual property expert who has spent a decade advising high growth technology clients. He previously spent seven years with a large UK-wide patent firm, before joining Hindles in 2020. He works with the firm’s SME clients on IP strategy, specialising in patents for industrial products and processes, packaging, renewables, computer software, consumer products, and software interfaces.

Mr Cottingham said: “We have excellent people, including some particularly strong recent hires, and that ensures that our clients will continue to receive the best intellectual property advice in the industry, backed up by safe, robust systems and a plain-speaking approach. I am excited to continue to drive the expansion of our practice.”

In 2018, Hindles opened its second UK office, in Liverpool, which is run by fellow director Dr Robert Gregory. Hindles has added two lateral hire fee earners to its Liverpool team over the last year.

Dr Gregory commented: “The economic downturn has not caused a tail-off in innovation; to the contrary, we are seeing more companies, including spin-outs, prioritise their IP and invest in patent protection. This applies to North West England and beyond, and our two offices work closely together for a range of UK, European and international clients.”

He added: “Quality of work is a real focus for our firm. We have chosen to grow at a controlled rate to maintain the standards of work which our clients appreciate. Much of our new work comes from recommendations from existing clients. One of our mantras is that we provide clear, commercially meaningful advice on which our clients can act. Our success is based on our people: we have recruited further high calibre attorneys and trainee attorneys, and have also significantly strengthened our support staff.”