Regulated patent attorneys and trade mark attorneys are entitled to carry on reserved legal activities such as the conduct of litigation. They may delegate the conduct of litigation to others such as non-authorised attorneys or trainees within the practice, so long as appropriate supervision and management processes are in place.
The Court of Appeal judgement on the appeal brought by the Chartered Institute of Legal Executives in relation to the High Court case of Mazur v Charles Russell Speechlys LLP clarifies that there is no distinction between (i) an unauthorised person providing support to an authorised person who conducts litigation, and (ii) an unauthorised person conducting litigation under the supervision of an authorised person.
It remains the case that the level of supervision required by the authorised person will depend on the circumstances arising in each instance, and the authorised person remains responsible for the conduct of the litigation and for ensuring that any supervision arrangements are appropriate.
The judgement does not provide an exhaustive list of acts or tasks that would fall within the definition of the 'conduct of litigation', but it considers a list of activities which would not be considered to fall within the definition, including giving legal advice in connection with court proceedings, conducting correspondence with the opposing party on behalf of clients and instructing and liasing with Counsel and experts. See paragraph 193 for the full list.
If you conduct litigation in the course of your practice, we advise that you read the full judgement linked above and ensure the adequacy of any supervision arrangements in place as appropriate.
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.
Certificate requirements for registered attorneys
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. Nottingham Law School is not offering the course in 2026.
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.