Day in the Life – Jessica Lowndes, CIPA Paralegal
About me
I’m Jess, and I’m a new(ish) addition to the Scintilla team! I joined in February 2025 in our Manchester office as a trainee IP paralegal but since joining I received my CIPA exam results, and I am now a qualified CIPA patent paralegal. I work alongside one of our European Patent Attorneys, Elly, and our Strategic Director, Suzanne. You can contact me, Elly or Suzanne if you need any assistance with filing software, electronics, engineering or quantum engineering patents, UK registered designs, or need assistance with forming your IP strategy, identifying your assets and maximizing your IP potential.
A typical Monday
9.00am
In news that would surprise nobody who works in an office, I start my morning by checking through my emails. I check the support mailboxes for Scintilla and process any emails for my attorneys, which includes docketing any deadlines and adding tasks, for example reporting an office action and the deadline for responding. I’ll also take the opportunity to respond to any emails on behalf of my attorneys, acknowledging receipt, providing an update that the client or associate has asked for, or setting up new enquiry cases. When I’ve processed all my emails, I move on and check the online mailbox for any communications from the European Patent Office (EPO).
10.30am
On Monday mornings we have a team meeting, where we discuss any highlights from last week, any goals and upcoming opportunities for the coming week, and discuss workloads, progress on the month’s billing, and open the floor for anyone to raise anything they would like to discuss in an open forum.
11.00am
Now I like to take a quick “hydration break”, i.e. I go make myself a coffee.
11.05am
With the morning’s admin out of the way, I will make a start on working through my task list. Common tasks that can crop up for me are conducting file reviews, sending reminders to clients about their upcoming deadlines, securing inventor details for filings, onboarding new clients, securing claims translations in French and German for use at the EPO, paying renewal fees, and preparing new applications for filing.
12.30pm
Since passing my CIPA Paralegal qualification in April of this year, I frequently attend lunch time webinars to meet my CPD requirements, most recently about EU Design legislation reforms. When I am not in a webinar though, I like to get out on a quick dog walk or pick up on my latest binge-watching show. (I’ve finally started The Walking Dead – no spoilers, please!)
1.30pm
First thing I do when I’m back from lunch is repeat my morning routine and email check. Docket, respond, and update where necessary. Back to working through tasks, and the ad hoc job requests that come through from my attorneys via email.
3.00pm
Now is a good time to grab a hobnob and take a quick look through my attorneys’ billing lists, and see if there is anything that I need to reconcile, make sure all disbursements and official fees have been added and charged out, and see what should be billed this week.
4.00pm
I’ve recently been added to the Quality Management Team. Now I will be assisting in revising our templates to keep them current with any changes to the law, company style, or client requirements. I will also be assisting with implementing improvements to our internal case management system. So when 4pm hits, it’s a good time to take a look at any new tickets that have been raised and passed over to me and make a start on revisions/improvements.
5.00pm
If all went according to plan today and I don’t need to stick around for any urgent client instructions (this can sometimes happen when you’re dealing with clients in different jurisdictions and time zones!), that’s me done for the day. Time to head out on the local woodland walk with my doggy, Bailey (pic is, of course, attached). Unwind, eat, sleep, and get ready for tomorrow.
