IP Solicitors
The Legal Team
Who is Stratagem’s Legal Team?
When your intellectual property agreements need clarity and commercial alignment, our Legal Team provides expert IP legal services to help you manage contracts, licensing, and commercialisation with confidence. Whether you’re negotiating licensing deals, managing ownership rights, or navigating complex IP agreements, you need advice that’s both legally precise and commercially practical.
Stratagem brings you a unique advantage — direct access to a dedicated in-house IP solicitor and a team of senior attorneys with deep experience in commercial contracts and IP strategy. Together, they work on various matters as an experienced Legal Team. Jo Eales, a qualified solicitor with a background in leading law firms, provides technical legal advice that combines seamlessly with the commercial and subject matter experience of our senior attorneys, creating an effective and efficient outcome for your business. That means no duplicated briefings, no back-and-forth between advisors — just fast, cohesive answers from professionals who already understand your business.
Your regular IP attorney collaborates directly with our IP solicitor to deliver joined-up advice that covers both the technical and legal aspects of your agreements. Our legal team drafts in plain English, ensuring your contracts are not only robust and enforceable, but easy to understand, so you can make decisions quickly, protect your rights effectively, and give you clarity and control.
What Does Our Legal Team Do?
When your business relies on intellectual property, every agreement matters. Stratagem’s Legal team helps ensure your contracts are watertight, strategically aligned, and tailored to support growth. From early-stage innovation through to commercialisation and global partnerships, we draft and negotiate the legal frameworks that protect your IP and unlock opportunity.
Our IP solicitor specialises in agreements where intellectual property plays a central role — including NDAs, licensing deals, collaboration agreements, and IP assignments. With the legal team having deep experience in the life sciences, technology, and consumer goods sectors, we regularly support clients with Material Transfer Agreements (MTAs), Master Service Agreements (MSAs), Clinical Trial Agreements, and consultancy contracts involving IP ownership and usage rights.
If you’re dealing with a trade mark dispute, we can help resolve it efficiently through tailored co-existence agreements and undertakings that protect your brand and avoid litigation. And when IP rights need to change hands, whether through assignment or licensing, we make sure the terms are legally secure and commercially advantageous.
What sets us apart is our ability to listen and negotiate with purpose. We work closely with you to identify priorities, clarify boundaries, and structure agreements that reflect your goals. The result? Practical contracts, crafted in plain English, that strengthen your position and move your business forward with confidence.
The Benefits of Working with Stratagem’s IP Solicitor
When contracts involve intellectual property, you need more than standard legal advice — you need guidance that’s grounded in commercial reality, tailored to your goals, and designed to reduce risk. That’s where Stratagem’s IP solicitor deliver real value.
We take time to understand your business, your priorities, and your commercial relationships. But we also look beyond your side of the table — uncovering the motivations and blockers on the other side. This insight helps us shape agreements and negotiations that work for everyone involved, speeding up outcomes and reducing the chance of conflict. Combining the skills of our IP solicitor with our senior attorneys creates a legal team that provides expert commercial strategy greater than the sum of its parts.
Our advice is always pragmatic. We don’t recommend fighting for positions that aren’t achievable — instead, we help you focus on what matters most, ensuring your contracts support progress, protect your business, and pave the way for future opportunity.
Strong, well-structured agreements form the foundation of successful business relationships. Whether you’re entering a strategic partnership, licensing technology, or onboarding a new supplier, investing time upfront helps you avoid complications later — protecting your reputation, revenue, and long-term value.
And if a dispute does arise, we’re here to support you. While we don’t conduct litigation ourselves, we draft cease-and-desist letters and manage pre-action correspondence — and where necessary, we connect you with trusted litigation partners to take matters further. Every step of the way, our legal team helps you assess risk, weigh your options, and make decisions with clarity and confidence.
Jo Eales
IP Solicitor
Can I Recommend Your Team to a Colleague?
Absolutely — and we’d be delighted. Many of our new relationships begin through referrals, and we take great pride in earning the trust of those we work with. If you know a colleague, partner, or fellow business leader who could benefit from strategic trade mark advice, we’d be happy to help them protect and grow their brand with confidence.
Download Our Handy Fact Sheets
Need a quick reference? Our fact sheets offer clear, practical overviews of our core services: IP strategy, patents, trade marks, and legal support. They’re ideal for sharing with your wider team or keeping close when planning your next steps.
FAQs about our IP Solicitors
How much will it cost to negotiate an agreement?
The cost of negotiating an intellectual property agreement — whether it’s a licensing deal, collaboration agreement, or trade mark settlement — depends on the complexity of the terms, the number of parties involved, and how open each side is to compromise.
At Stratagem, we provide clear, upfront estimates so you know what to expect before work begins. If negotiations become more complex or take longer than anticipated, we’ll keep you updated with revised timelines and cost projections. Our goal is to give you full visibility and control at every stage, so you can make informed decisions without hidden surprises.
What’s the difference between an NDA and a CDA?
A NDA (Non-Disclosure Agreement) and a CDA (Confidential Disclosure Agreement) are essentially the same type of document — both are designed to protect sensitive information and prevent unauthorised disclosure. The difference is often in naming convention rather than substance. In practice, a CDA may more explicitly define what is considered confidential, while an NDA might take a broader approach. But both agreements serve the same core purpose: safeguarding valuable information during early discussions, collaborations, or due diligence.
If you’re sharing ideas, data, or invention details — especially before filing a patent — always use an NDA or CDA. And if a third party won’t sign? That’s a red flag. It may signal they’re not aligned with your interests or that your information could be at risk.
What’s the difference between a solicitor, a lawyer and an attorney?
The key difference lies in their training and legal focus. A solicitor is a qualified lawyer who has completed general legal training and often specialises later in areas like intellectual property (IP), contracts, or dispute resolution. Solicitors typically handle broader legal issues, including drafting commercial agreements, advising on legal risks, and supporting litigation.
An attorney — in the IP context — is either a patent attorney or trade mark attorney. They qualify through a different route, with specialist training focused entirely on securing and protecting intellectual property rights. At Stratagem, all our attorneys are UK Chartered Patent or Trade Mark Attorneys, and our Patent Attorneys are also European qualified. They are therefore able to directly advise, file and enforce IP rights in the UK and Europe, and where they are not directly qualified, they work with a team of overseas attorneys who are selected for their experience, value for money and established trusted relationship.
Both solicitors and attorneys are classed as lawyers but are regulated by different bodies. Solicitors are overseen by the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA), while patent and trade mark attorneys are regulated by IPReg. Both are governed by the Legal Services Act and meet strict standards of professionalism and ethics.
Not sure whether you need an IP solicitor or an IP attorney? Just ask — our IP lawyers will help point you in the right direction.
Let’s Talk Legal Strategy for IP Success
Need expert legal support for intellectual property agreements, negotiations, or dispute resolution? Our legal team combines commercial insight with in-depth IP knowledge to help your business move forward with confidence. Whether you’re securing an NDA, negotiating a licensing agreement, or resolving a dispute, our advice is always pragmatic, strategic, and tailored to your goals.
Contact us today for clear, commercially focused support from our lawyers, in-house solicitors and senior attorneys.
Tel: +44 (0)1223 550740