As part of our 'meet the team' series, we talk to Head of IP Support Services Lesley Gardner about managing organisational change, the importance of resilience and her love of Manchester City.
When Lesley joined Mewburn Ellis as operations manager in 2018, it was her first job working in IP. Since then, her role has grown and she is now responsible for the leadership and management of IP Support Services across the firm.
She manages a team of over 130 staff, including paralegals and administrators. Over the last five years she has made an impact, with colleagues praising her hard work, her “ability to see the bigger picture” and “unbelievable achievements” in a “challenging role”.
She started her career in financial services, working for the same insurance firm for almost 30 years. Originally she had considered working in accountancy but changed course when she decided against going to university.
“When I was growing up in Glasgow, careers advice was pretty limited,” says Lesley. “Girls were only really given the option of office work and I certainly never even considered more creative jobs that I might have enjoyed, like photography or furniture design.
“My original plan was to become an accountant but when it came to it, I couldn’t face university and the years of study involved, so decided to get a job. I started out in credit control at RSA.”
Over the years she worked in various different roles including as a business analyst, claims manager and in sales and underwriting. After 12 years working in RSA’s Glasgow office, she moved down to Manchester.
“I moved around the firm, working in different roles as I gained experience. What they all had in common was that they involved managing and implementing operational change,” explains Lesley.
In 2016, Lesley opted for voluntary redundancy, deciding it was time to go and do something different. “A colleague of mine had heard about the job at Mewburn Ellis,” she says. “Although I had no background in legal services, I thought it sounded interesting and would use much of the experience and knowledge I had built up over the years, so I applied and got the job.”
Career progression
Lesley has been involved in a number of key initiatives since joining the firm with some notable highlights along the way. One was the new Ways of Working project which saw the introduction of the paralegal role to the firm and changed the structure of the IP support function.
“The aim was to clarify roles and responsibilities for work that we do, freeing up our attorneys to focus on technical work and client relationships,” she explains. “It took two years to implement and has provided a solid platform for growth, as well as creating career progression opportunities for our IP support team.”
The second was the implementation of a paralegal competency framework to support new paralegals which was launched last year, helping Mewburn Ellis to onboard new paralegals and support and develop those promoted internally.
“The changes have provided new training opportunities, with several of our paralegals going through the new European patent administration certification course,” says Lesley. “So far only 15 people in the UK have passed the new qualification and five of them work for us, which is amazing! We have also had an absolutely phenomenal run in this year’s National Paralegal Awards.” The firm was awarded National Paralegal Business of the Year and Rachel Collier was awarded Community Champion of the Year. In addition, Debbie Williams and Edward Kelly were Highly Commended in the IP Paralegal of the Year category, and the firm Highly Commended in the Best Law Firm Paralegal Development category.
“It’s a real reflection of the success of the changes we have put in place and an opportunity to celebrate and elevate the role of paralegals. It’s still a work in progress but we are reaping the rewards of the efforts everyone has put in and are seeing positive benefits.”
The next step for Lesley is to look at how the firm can build on the development of soft skills and expand the same model into the administrator team.
She enjoys building an environment that brings out the different skills and perspectives of the specialists she works with. Colleagues describe how she pulls them all together as a team and inspires them.
“I get involved in new projects, putting in place system changes that reflect the impact of new legislation or changes in the legal market. It’s a really varied role and can be very rewarding. Everything I do is about making things better for our business and our clients,” she says. “I would love to have more time to do all the things I want to – I’m always seeing opportunities for positive change but have to manage my own expectations on what can be achieved!”
Making things happen
The firm has grown since Lesley joined and she has been able to expand her role, testament she says, “to the opportunities for progression here at Mewburn Ellis”. She recently brought in a new management team to free her up to step away from some of the more day to day running of the IP support team. “They bring leadership skills, deep IP knowledge and operational nous,” says Lesley. “It’s good to have their support and means I can refocus my efforts on looking to the future and thinking about the strategic changes I want to make.”
She describes herself as hardworking and resilient. “When you are managing change there are always going to be challenges along the way with opposing views from different ends of the spectrum! You need to be resilient and tenacious to make things happen.”
Outside work, Lesley’s current activity of choice is reformer pilates. “At the moment I’m addicted to it,” says Lesley. “There’s always something new to try and it’s a brilliant way to exercise and switch off.” She has also been a season ticket holder at Manchester City for the last 20 years, “I absolutely love going to the game and watching the team – they work so hard for each other, and of course it’s all paid off – we’ve had a lot to celebrate recently!”
