The Rights to Conduct Litigation and Rights of Audience and Other Reserved Legal Activities Certification Rules 2012 set out the three tiers of litigation and advocacy qualifications available to attorneys.
These are:
1 - The Intellectual Property Litigation Certificate
Confers basic rights to conduct appeals in the High Court from decisions of the UK IPO or the Appointed Person, to seek judicial review of such decisions in the High Court, and to conduct litigation and be heard in the Intellectual Property Enterprise Court or the County Court in defined cases.
2 - The Higher Courts Litigation Certificate
Confers broader litigation rights compared to those listed above, including extensive rights of audience in the Intellectual Property Enterprise Court and rights to conduct some litigation and appeals in the High Court, Court of Appeal and Supreme Court.
3 - The Higher Courts Advocacy Certificate
In addition to the rights listed in the lower Certificates, confers full rights of audience in the High Court, Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court in any proceedings which may be conducted by an attorney holding a Higher Courts Litigation Certificate.
All registered attorneys must hold at a minimum, the Intellectual Property Litigation Certificate, sometimes referred to as the “litigation skills certificate” or the “basic certificate”.
Trade mark attorneys will usually have obtained this certificate as part of their pre-registration qualifications (if they qualified after 1 January 2013 with the Professional Certificate in Trade Mark Practice; those with qualifications obtained prior to this will need to sit the Basic Litigation Skills Course).
Patent attorneys, unless a registered attorney as at 31 December 2012, must obtain the Intellectual Property Litigation Certificate within three years of the end of their first year of registration. For example, a patent attorney admitted to the patent register on 1 April 2022 must obtain the certificate by 31 December 2025.
Trade Mark attorneys who held the Advocacy Certificate under the ITMA (now CITMA) Trade Mark Litigator and Trade Mark Advocate Certificate Regulations 2009 were passported to a Higher Courts Litigator qualification and not a Higher Courts Advocate qualification.
Basic Litigation Skills Courses (BLSC)
BLSC options are currently offered by:-
CPD Training (UK) Limited and Nottingham Law School.
Upon application to IPReg, an individual who has passed the BLSC will be awarded the IPReg Intellectual Property Litigation Certificate qualification.
Rights in Higher Courts
Upon application to IPReg, an individual who has passed the Nottingham Law School, Nottingham Trent University Higher Courts Litigation Course will be awarded the IPReg Higher Courts Litigation Certificate:
Upon application to IPReg, an individual who has passed either the CPD Training (UK) Limited Higher Courts Advocacy Course or the Nottingham Law School, Nottingham Trent University Higher Courts Advocacy Course will be awarded the IPReg Higher Courts Advocacy Certificate.