Patrick Cantrill of Womble Bond Dickinson has hailed as “fantastic” the law firm’s recognition in intellectual property at the Yorkshire Legal Awards last week.
Womble Bond Dickinson’s intellectual property department based in Leeds landed the Intellectual Property Award on 11 October.
Cantrill (pictured, left), Womble Bond Dickinson’s head of intellectual property, said: “It’s fantastic for us to win this award and to see our achievements recognised. The real credit belongs to the many people in our intellectual property team who all work extremely hard to achieve successful results for clients both locally and internationally.”
“Our combination with US law firm, Womble Carlyle, in November last year created an array of opportunities and has resulted in significant growth for the team,” Cantrill added. “We work very closely with the US team in order to provide cross-jurisdictional advice. Moreover, with the recent acquisition of Blakelys, the renowned California practice, in intellectual property on a global scale, Womble Bond Dickinson goes from strength to strength.”
Paula Dillon, partner in the real estate team at Womble Bond Dickinson, also won Yorkshire Lawyer of the Year at the Yorkshire Legal Awards, capping a successful night for the firm.
An experienced lawyer, Dillon (pictured, right) also serves on Womble Bond Dickinson’s UK and global boards.
She is heavily involved in Yorkshire and as the first female president of Leeds Chamber of Commerce has championed equality and diversity, in particular women in science, technology, engineering and mathematics.
Her leadership of the firm’s diversity and inclusion (D&I) programme culminated in Womble Bond Dickinson recently being awarded the Law Society gold standard for D&I, and she has made a substantial impact on the local legal market with her work to open up the profession to non-graduates.
Paul Singh, who leads the litigation team at Sheffield City Council and is president of Sheffield & District Law Society, led the panel of judges. He also revealed Dillon as Yorkshire Lawyer of the Year, saying: “For the winner, we looked beyond someone who had won big cases or simply improved their firm’s turnover. We were looking for someone who had contributed to the legal community and the Yorkshire community as a whole.”
