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We are delighted to announce that this month, recent LLM graduates, and , will commence traineeships at the European Patent Office (EPO) and EU Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO), respectively. Our two LLM graduates secured these places via the competitive Pan-European Seal Programme.

The Pan-European Seal Programme gives high-achieving graduates the opportunity to apply for a one-year paid internship, in the multi-cultural environments of the EPO and EUIPO. The traineeships provide invaluable on-the-job professional work experience, and afford the opportunity to put the knowledge of intellectual property law acquired during their LLM studies into practice.

Kacper’s traineeship is in the Data Protection Office of the EPO in Munich, where the work is cross-departmental, providing him the opportunity to interact with all other departments at the EPO, as well as with other IP offices. Maria Teodora’s traineeship at the EUIPO, Alicante, will see her joining the Second Board of Appeal, where she will assist members of the Boards with the drafting of trade mark decisions.

The Programme is only open to students from PES Partner institutions. This year was the first time that Laws students had the opportunity to apply to take part in the scheme, as Ïã¸ÛÁùºÏ²Ê only signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the two IP offices in February 2024. Having joined this prestigious partnership, students enrolled on the Laws LLM programme and those completing IP-related PhDs will have the opportunity to apply annually for these traineeships. There are currently around 130 partner universities in over 35 European countries, and each year each Office typically offers around 100 placements across a number of disciplines, so our LLM students have done particularly well to secure two of these traineeships, against such fierce competition.

, Lecturer in Intellectual Property Law, is the Faculty’s point of contact for the scheme. She participated in the PES programme at the EUIPO in 2015-2016. Speaking on hearing the news, Dr Trapova said:

‘We are very proud of our brilliant graduates. I am confident that the PES Traineeship will shape their curiosity and channel their passion for IP. The programme is a wonderful place for junior scholars to thrive, and experience the manner in which decisions on IP (and related legal) matters are made at large and in practice in an international context.’

• Read more about the Pan-European Seal Professional Traineeship Programme at Ïã¸ÛÁùºÏ²Ê.