Isobel Barry

Partner, Carpmaels & Ransford (UK)

Partner and patent litigator Isobel Barry is passionate about promoting diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI), and is a prominent member of IP Inclusive. She was a founding committee member of the LGBTQ+ network of IP Inclusive, IP Out, for which she is currently co-chair, and she sat on the Women in IP committee for six years. Barry has also helped to coordinate several of Carpmaels’ community outreach initiatives and to drive its DEI programme, including launching an LGBTQ+ network. In her spare time, she runs book groups focused on feminism and the LGBTQ+ community.

Denise Benz

Partner, Allen & Overy (Germany)

Denise Benz advises technology companies in relation to their IP rights, especially in the context of complex patent disputes across a range of industries. She is part of the firm’s internal Women in IP working group, which aims to support and advance female IP lawyers. Benz also launched a mentoring programme for young—predominantly female—IP lawyers, and is actively involved in a number of national and international women in law networks such as ChIPs.

This year, she organised and moderated an online event, Diversity and Social Mobility–Challenges for Germany, which was broadcast from the firm’s Munich office to all A&O employees. During this session she was joined by Katja Urbatsch, founder and managing director of ArbeiterKind.de, a non-profit organisation that supports first generation academics from disadvantaged backgrounds, and together they explored the issues that remain for aspiring attorneys with disadvantaged backgrounds, and how these can be addressed.

Declan Cushley

Partner and head of UK&I commercial and technology group, Browne Jacobson (UK)

Declan Cushley is the head of Browne Jacobson’s London office and is heavily involved in the firm’s DEI initiatives, which include diversity targets to achieve its ambition of having a minimum of 50% female and 12% UK ethnic minority partners by 2026.

Passionate about promoting social mobility, Cushley advocated for the removal of the firm’s requirement for minimum A-level grades for trainees as well as its move to anonymise all application forms and CVs.

Browne Jacobson has a long-standing partnership with the National Literacy Trust, allowing the firm to reach out to students from disadvantaged backgrounds and show them the career possibilities available.

Browne Jacobson also established Fairer Access Into Real Experience (FAIRE) to revolutionise the way law firms encourage diverse talent into the profession, and to grow an industry-wide culture of inclusivity. FAIRE aims to support social mobility by offering students equal access to the paid work experience that can potentially pave the way for a career in the legal sector.

Elizabeth Ferrill

Partner, Finnegan (US)

Elizabeth Ferrill is the co-leader of the firm’s litigation section and also co-leads Finnegan FORWARD (Focused on Raising Women’s Advancement, Representation, and Development), the firm’s women’s business initiative. In this role, Ferrill works with firm management to lead efforts regarding the inclusion of women at all levels, external promotion of current and future women leaders, and client and firm coaligned efforts.

She is the vice chair of the Intellectual Property Owners Association (IPO) Industrial Designs Committee, and received the IPO Carl B. Horton Distinguished Service Award in 2021. Ferrill leads the firm’s pro bono programme for military veterans, and has worked extensively on behalf of military veterans.

Ferrill also served on the board of directors of Community Tax Aid, a Washington, DC non-profit that provides a free tax preparation service to low-and moderate-income families. Before beginning her legal career, Ferrill graduated from the US Air Force Academy and served five years on active duty as a communications officer.

Parminder Lally

Partner, Appleyard Lees (UK)

Parminder Lally joined the patent profession as a trainee in 2011 and qualified as a patent attorney in 2015. She joined Appleyard Lees’ Cambridge office in February 2019 and the partnership in April 2023. Lally is an active supporter of IP Inclusive, an organisation that promotes DEI and wellbeing throughout the UK’s IP professions.

Lally was initially involved in setting up Careers in Ideas, an outreach campaign that raised awareness of IP-related careers and aimed to widen the pool that the professions recruit from. Since then, she has hosted in-person and virtual Women in IP events in Cambridge, and spoken at IP Inclusive events on, or written about, the importance of allies and how to be a better ally, intersectionality, South Asian Heritage Month, inclusion, and invisible diversity. Proud of her South Asian background, she is keen to promote greater awareness of her heritage and culture, and is dedicated to being a visible minority within the IP profession.

Lisa Mueller

Partner, Casimir Jones (US)

A thought leader on pharmaceutical and biopharmaceutical patent law, Lisa Mueller speaks frequently to legal and industry groups, and is passionate about increasing diversity in the IP field. Due to concerns over the lack of diversity in the patent field, she founded the Casimir Jones Life Sciences Patent Academy in 2021 to try and increase the number of candidates from different backgrounds entering IP.

A free programme, it comprises three virtual courses which introduces individuals to patent law and teaches them how to draft and prosecute high-quality life-science related patent applications. The goal is that by the end of the programme, these individuals will have the foundational skill set needed to help them get a job in patent law and/or take the patent bar.

Cyra Nargolwalla

Partner, Plasseraud IP (France)

A leading voice in French IP diversity matters, Cyra Nargolwalla is a member of Plasseraud IP’s executive committee. She began her career in IP at Plasseraud IP in 1994, and became a partner in 2004. Through her efforts, she has helped ensure that diversity is one of the core values of the Plasseraud IP group. Nargolwalla is a member of the Intellectual Property Owner’s DEI Committee and the Working Group on Diversity and Inclusion Policy of the Institute of Professional Representatives before the European Patent Office (EPO).

In May 2022, Nargolwalla participated in the pre-council seminar of the EPO, taking part in a DEI-focused roundtable with other IP experts, and shared her vision of diversity and how it can be a driving force and source of creativity.

Qudus Olaniran

Vice President, Avanci

A key member of the Avanci DEI committee, Qudus Olaniran has used his previous experience to support the company on its DEI journey. This includes advocating for Avanci to join ADAPT.legal, an organisation that aims to increase diversity within the IP profession. Outside Avanci, Qudus serves as a mentor and interviewer in the Patent Pathways programme, which has similar aims.

Before joining Avanci, Olaniran was an executive committee member of the African American/Black Employee Network in the legal department at Microsoft, due to his commitment to departmental diversity initiatives. In addition, he was the IP department diversity champion, serving as a mentor to participants in Microsoft’s IP associate programme for underrepresented communities.

Riikka Palmos

Director (Trademarks), Papula-Nevinpat (Finland)

Riikka Palmos is a director and team leader of the trademark department at Papula-Nevinpat. Beyond her role as a leader, Palmos has made significant and ongoing contributions to the development of the company’s human resources (HR) matters, and has been involved in creating the company’s DEI strategy and ensuring its implementation.

Palmos firmly believes that diverse viewpoints are the lifeblood of innovation and growth, and is conscious of her ability to influence and drive positive change, which she takes pride in. She is a member of AIPLA’s (American Intellectual Property Law Association) Women in IP committee and the Women in AIPPI (International Association for the Protection of Intellectual Property) group.

Purvi Patel Albers

Partner, Haynes Boone (US)

Purvi Patel Albers is a member of the firm’s board of directors and serves as trusted adviser and counsel to Fortune 500 companies and high-growth ventures on the management of their valuable brand investments. She is a member of Haynes and Boone’s board of directors and actively advances DEI within the firm. She participates in conferences and speaking engagements designed to enhance DEI progress including the South Asian Bar Association Leadership Institute.

Mariam Sabet

Mariam Sabet is a Fulbright Scholar and a member of the IP team in the Dubai office, who works on a broad range of both contentious and non-contentious IP matters. Passionate about promoting better opportunities for women lawyers in the UAE, she has written an article for WIPR exploring the ongoing challenges faced by Middle Eastern women when forging IP careers, and what strategies can best support them.

María José Sánchez Rey

Federation of Coffee Growers in Colombia (Colombia)

María José Sánchez Rey is the IP coordinator at Federación Nacional de Cafeteros—the Colombian Coffee Growers Federation (FNC). Her team is responsible for designing IP strategies to deliver more benefits to the country’s coffee growers, as well as the licensing processes for the Café de Colombia and Juan Valdez brands. One of her primary goals is to give more prominence to women in the coffee industry, and to support coffee production projects owned by women. Her team trains female business owners on IP matters such as the importance of protecting their brands—giving them tools through IP rights to differentiate their products in the market.

Elaine Spector

Partner, Harrity & Harrity (US)

Elaine Spector is a patent attorney with more than 20 years of experience in IP law.

As an avid believer in giving-back, she is dedicated to improving diversity in the field of patent law through her numerous diversity leadership roles including as vice chair of the Intellectual Property Owners’ (IPO) diversity committee, and as chair of the association’s D&I Committee Outreach Subcommittee.

She serves as co-chair of Harrity & Harrity’s diversity committee and hosts Driving Diversity, a weekly vlog sharing diversity-related tips and FAQs, as well as quarterly webinars in a series called Diversity Dialogue as part of Harrity’s Diversity Channel. Spector is a board member at Change the Conversation (formerly No More Stolen Childhoods), a non-profit organisation that engages communities in the prevention of and healing from child sexual abuse.

Kathi Vidal

Director, USPTO (US)

Kathi Vidal serves as the under secretary of commerce for IP and is director of the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). Since her appointment in 2022, she has made DEI a cornerstone of her policies, and has launched a number of initiatives to make the profession more inclusive. To ensure high-quality, inclusive representation for all US innovators, Vidal unveiled plans to expand the admission criteria for the patent bar to encourage broader participation. Under Vidal, the USPTO formed its first-ever diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility (DEIA) committee and created key DEIA positions that have never existed before at the agency.

Vidal appointed Caren Ulrich Stacy, the CEO of Diversity Lab and a driving force behind the landmark Mansfield Rule, as a lead advisor on DEIA at the agency working with senior leaders to shape practices and policies that support and sustain inclusive hiring. The USPTO has also added five government leaders to its Council for Inclusive Innovation (CI2), which is aimed at increasing the participation and development of women, veterans, and underrepresented groups as inventors and entrepreneurs.

Jane Wainwright

Partner, Potter Clarkson (UK)

Jane Wainwright is an experienced life sciences patent attorney, with a strong track record of promoting diversity, equity and inclusion in the workplace. An active member of IP Inclusive, she is a signatory of the IP Inclusive Leaders’ Pledge which underlines her commitment to implementing a genuine and effective diversity and inclusion agenda at her firm. She is also a founding member of IP Inclusive’s menopause support working group, and hosted an Inclusivity Unlocked! webinar, titled ‘Menopause: What’s Changing?’ which looked at recent government changes and investment in women’s health, as well as providing numerous tips for creating a more menopause-savvy workplace.

Angela Wilson

Senior Counsel, Intellectual Property, Hershey (US)

Angela Wilson is general counsel, IP, at Hershey and has been at the forefront of the confectioner’s commitment to equitable hiring, development, and promotion of women and people of colour as well as employees identifying as veterans, LGBTQ+, and disabled for more than a decade. In 2020, the company unveiled The Pathways Project, a five-year plan to make its workplace and communities even more inclusive. The programme prioritises increasing the overall representation and advancement of minority groups including women, those living with a disability, LGBTQ+ employees and veterans, with a heightened focus on closing the representation gap for Black and Latino employees.

By 2030, Hershey is seeking to quadruple its spending power with diverse suppliers, reaching $400 million. As a result of these efforts, Forbes ranked Hershey as one of the world’s top female-friendly companies in the world in 2022.