Returning to work after maternity leave

Each year, to mark International Women in Engineering Day, we like to highlight the experiences of the inspiring women in our network and find out how they started their journey into studying a STEM subject. In this special episode of the IP Podcast, Sarah Richmond (Senior Associate) interviewed Jessica Gagen, Aerospace Engineering Graduate, model and the reigning Miss England, about her experiences and the importance of the female role model. Female engineers around the world are still hugely under-represented, with the latest figures indicating that only 16.5% of engineers in the UK are women, meaning the part of a female role model is more important than ever. As a firm that has an almost 50/50 gender split, we understand the importance of the part we play in encouraging young women and girls to pursue an education or career in science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM).

In this special edition of our IP podcast, we are doing things a bit differently and talking about returning to work after maternity leave. Each year we acknowledge International Women’s day and use it as an opportunity to highlight the achievements of the inspiring women in our network. This year’s events got us talking and as a firm that is almost 50% female, we felt we were well placed to discuss the common issues faced by women in the workplace. Claire Whittle (Marketing and Communications Manager), Laura Ramsay (Partner) and Polly Shaw (Head of HR) discuss how experiences of transitioning back to work after maternity leave might differ, and offer advice on making your first few weeks back in the office as smooth as possible.

In episode two of our special “Women in STEM” podcast series, we interview Rebecca Gardner (Partner) and Rosie Lawrence (Technical Assistant).  Rebecca and Rosie work in the Dehns Biotech team and are based in our Brighton office. With Rebecca starting her career in the mid-90s and Rosie joining the workplace in 2020, this episode delves into their different experiences - during their studies and when entering the workplace - and the effect of increased diversity in STEM.

In this episode of The IP Podcast, Senior Associate Daniel Rowe discusses a topic relating to the biotechnology and pharma industries: repurposed drugs and skinny labelling. Tune in to hear Dan answer: What are repurposed drugs and why are they important? Can repurposed drugs be patent protected even though the patent covering the original drug may have expired? What is a skinny label? All these questions and more, answered in less than 20 minutes!

In the second episode The IP Podcast's UPC special, Dehns Partner Mark Bell discusses what factors people need to consider when deciding on the best course of action for their patent, patents or patent applications, including: • Where does the patent owner or applicant wish to obtain patent protection? • The costs of validation and renewal for European patents • Will the jurisdiction of the Unified Patent Court (UPC) be a potential problem? • Loss of flexibility in managing the patent portfolio over the life of a European patent All these questions and more, answered in less than 30 minutes!

In this episode of The IP Podcast, we’re looking at a major topic in the IP world, and certainly the biggest and most significant change to the European Patent system for nearly 50 years - the introduction of the Unified Patent Court and the Unitary Patent. Dehns Partner Mark Bell discusses: What is the Unified Patent Court? What is the Unitary Patent? How will it affect those with either granted or pending European patents? All these questions and more, answered in less than 30 minutes!

Kicking off the first episode of the long awaited Season 2 of The IP Podcast, Dehns Partner Tim Wilson discusses NFTs, answering: What are NFTs?  What are they useful for?  What benefit does owning an NFT give? What are the main IP issues to be considered with NFTs?  All these questions and more, answered in less than 20 minutes!

In this special WOMEN IN STEM episode, you’ll hear from some of the women in the Dehns senior management team as they discuss their STEM career journey, from the challenges they’ve faced, the current STEM landscape and how it has changed, and also what they love about their STEM careers and working in IP.

In this episode we look at a range of important IP topics not yet covered by our previous episodes and which any size of company should consider as a way of protecting and using their IP to help achieve their corporate objectives. This includes: IP Strategy; Portfolio Review; Analytics and Investigation; Investment and Capital Raising; Information Control; Valuation; Due Diligence; and Licencing and Collaboration. Dehns IP Consultant Sam Cleary discusses what these are, how and when you might need to consider them, and the potential high impact they can have on a business.

In this episode we look at Oppositions in the content of IP – what is an Opposition? What are the grounds for Opposition and what’s the procedure? What if someone files an Opposition against one of my granted patents? How long can the process take and how much might it cost? All these questions and more are answered by Dehns patent attorney and Oppositions expert, Laura Ramsay.