Careers With Us

J A Kemp offers opportunities to pursue an interesting and rewarding career. We have a long-established programme of continual recruitment into trainee patent attorney roles and we consider applications throughout the year. Opportunities to join us in other roles arise on an ad hoc basis, either to fill vacancies or to support the growth of the firm. We provide:

The advantages of working in a firm that is a market leader in the IP profession: the firm is renowned globally for its stability, reputation, client base, technical expertise and knowledge of IP law and practice
The benefits of a caring and responsible employer: a good work-life balance combined with excellent salary prospects, flexible working, generous benefits and a commitment to caring for the environment
A supportive, open and friendly partnership culture

Joining J A Kemp as a Trainee Patent Attorney

We offer opportunities to train as a patent attorney in our London Office, our Oxford Office or our Cambridge Office. We normally recruit up to six people each year to be trained as patent attorneys. All trainee patent attorneys are expected to train and qualify both as a European and a UK Patent Attorney. At J A Kemp you will have an experienced attorney mentor from day one to expose you to a variety of work, set targets for your performance and development and support you throughout your training.

Applications for our 2025 intake of Trainee Patent Attorneys have now opened!

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Joining J A Kemp as a Part-Qualified or Qualified Patent Attorney

We welcome approaches from truly exceptional candidates at any stage in their career as a patent attorney.

Whilst many of J A Kemp’s patent attorneys joined the firm as trainees, our home-grown talent is complemented by a good number of attorneys who have come to us with experience gained in other attorney firms, legal practices or industry. We welcome their different perspective on our business. We are always keen to learn from good practice elsewhere and enrich the firm’s culture by bringing in talented individuals with different backgrounds.

Exceptional individuals with a track record of success in the profession are invited to send their CV and covering letter to careers@jakemp.com at any time.

Our Trainee Secretary Programme

We have a large and strong secretarial team. Many of our secretaries have been recruited as trainees in recent years and have grown into the role at our firm. We sometimes need to fill vacancies with experienced secretaries and we usually require them to have prior experience of working in an IP firm.

Business Support Roles

We would not be able to provide excellent service to our clients without a strong team of committed individuals in a variety of business support roles. These include Finance, HR, Marketing, IT, Facilities, Business Intelligence and Business Process roles. Usually recruitment into our business support team is driven by operational requirements. We are open to speculative approaches, but if the timing is not right there may not be an opportunity for you. Most business support roles are based in our London office.

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Opportunities in our Trade Marks Team

A career as a trade mark attorney combines endless variety and intellectual challenge with exposure to clients at the sharp end of protecting and promoting their commercial interests and associated branding. The unique mix of creativity, law and business provides daily stimulus for an attorney and an ever changing and challenging diet of work.

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Why Choose J A Kemp?

If you join J A Kemp for a career as a patent or trade mark attorney – at trainee, part qualified or qualified level – we will provide:

The advantages of a leading firm: our reputation, our client base, our breadth and depth of technical expertise and our collective knowledge of intellectual property law worldwide.
The combination of a first-class training and personal development programme with early responsibility for producing high quality work and delivering excellent service to our clients.
The benefits of a caring and responsible employer: a sensible approach to work-life balance, combined with excellent salary prospects, generous benefits, flexible working and a commitment to contributing positively to society through our work and through proactively caring for the environment.
A supportive, open and friendly culture, with social events arranged throughout the year.

J A Kemp is a signatory to the IP Inclusive Charter, which promotes equality, diversity and inclusion within the IP sector.

What we offer

We offer all our employees a comprehensive benefits package. Below are a few of the options available to our staff.

Competitive salaries
Discretionary bonus scheme
Contributory pension scheme (with contributions up to 5% of salary matched by the firm)
Life assurance scheme (4 x annual salary)
Group Income Protection (after three months’ probation)
Private Medical Insurance
20 days annual holiday (with an additional day in December or January at Partners’ discretion). Annual holiday increases with each year of service, up to 25 days
Flex scheme allowing for 8 additional days’ holiday per year in return for excess hours worked for the firm.
Flexible working around core hours including up to 40% remote working
Travel and personal accident insurance for business and pleasure
Annual season ticket loan (after three months’ probation)