A joint approach for SOLO Marketing

In Bradford on 22 October a group of independent SOLO IP practitioners will come together to exhibit at the Creative Careers Fair organised by two Bradford-based creative and media organisations, Artworks and bmedi@ at the Great Victoria Hotel.

The initiaive is the idea of Jane Lambert of NIPC fame. She is speaking on confidentiality in the Seminar programme for industry professionals. The fair has an associated exhibition and the plan is for the stand to be manned during the course of the day by a variety of local IP practitioners who will be able to offer friendly advice to those starting out in their careers in Media as well as to their prospective employers. The banner over the stand will be IP Yorkshire.

To generate interest they will be offering free trademark searches, thanks to the good offices of Leeds Library Service.

This is a great opportunity for promotion without bearing the exhaustive burden of exhibiting alone. I am looking forward to the feedback from the day as it seems to me that co-operative exhibiting is a very interesting model.

The Professional Body

The arrival in my post of a ballot form to enable me to vote in charter amendments for the Law Society made me realise how concerned our professional bodies are becoming about their future role. This is a perfect opportunity for the membership to demonstrate what they need.
I am a solicitor though at present I don't practice as such but I'm still on the roll and still a member of the Law Society and still do my CPD so I get to vote.
The Law Society want to extend their membership to others in the legal field. They are thinking of offering post-nominals, i.e. initials designating qualification for use after your name that chartered engineers, patent attorneys and even trademark agents that are members of the Institute have enjoyed for years.
My other professional body, the IET has already undertaken reforms which widened its membership. There was quite a lot of resistance to that but it has made the organisation more vibrant and active and those aren't adjectives you typically associate with the Law Society at present.
How do we see the Law Society in future - what does the SOLO practitioner want from Chancery Lane - an expensive restaurant or something more practical that we can use to help develop our businesses. Speak up, they are listening because they have to.