The Patent Attorney and Trade Mark Attorney Qualification and Registration Regulations 2009 specify the requirements which must be met in order to qualify as an attorney.

Please note that for the purposes of Regulation 4.2 (c) and 4.3 (c) “substantial experience” should ordinarily mean the period ending immediately before the application for admission. This requirement is contained in Rule 6 of the Rules for the Examination and Admission of Individuals to the Register of Patent and Trade Mark Attorneys 2011.

IPReg has no formal policy in relation to the length of time that an examination can be regarded as a qualifying examination for the purposes of admission. That said, where the substantial experience of an applicant does not end immediately before the application, the Board, in considering whether to exercise its discretion based on the particular circumstances, will take into account the date(s) when advanced qualifying examinations were passed.