News and Insights

In parts 1 and 2 (found here and here), we looked at what imposterism is, why it occurs at such high frequencies for senior IP attorneys, and some of the wider and all too real impacts it has on IP firm profitability, culture and succession planning. In this third and final part we are going to look at some practical approaches that both the individual experiencing imposterism and IP firms at an organisational level can take to address the impact of this psychological overhea

In Part 1 (found here), we explored imposterism and how the intense, zero-error environment of IP firms cultures feelings of inadequacy among its highest-achieving and most senior attorneys driven by an acute awareness of what they know they don’t know, and in particular for those with inherent tendencies of perfectionist, people-pleasing and putting others needs first. However, viewing imposterism as a private, psychological issue impacting only on the individual experiencin

Intellectual property attorneys, whether patent attorneys or trade mark attorneys (or that increasingly rarer breed that are qualified as both), spend years studying and practicing to qualify and be registered as an attorney with the relevant authorities. Their academic CV generally includes a top-class honours degree, often topped off with a masters or PhD (in a highly technical scientific discipline for the patent attorneys), several years of gruelling, low-pass-rate prof