IPvocate Africa Legal Advisors Ltd is hiring several Junior Lawyers for its African Office in Mauritius. We are advising multinational clients on intellectual property law in Africa. It involves the filing, registration, licensing and enforcement of intellectual property rights.
Our African office in Mauritius has been established in 2012 and our business is constantly growing. Intellectual property law is one of the most interesting and fastest developing practice areas in the legal field today.
You will assist and support our lawyers with the following tasks:
Coordinate and manage trade mark and design registration procedures in all African countries and territories; including the drafting of applications, monitoring their status, preparing applications for recordals of changes, licences, assignments, conveying instructions to foreign colleagues in relation to trade mark matters, assume responsibility to monitor and attain deadlines;
Perform/order searches regarding trade mark availability and related issues, including trade marks due diligence procedures in view of acquisitions;
Enforce intellectual property rights in Africa with the help and assistance of our network of specialised lawyers in the different African jurisdictions;
Research and write on the enforcement of intellectual property rights in Africa;
Manage our website and social media accounts.
Qualifications required:
The position requires excellent organisational skills, the ability to multi-task, and strong communication skills: including proficiency in written and oral French and English. You need to be extremely precise, meticulous and rigorous as your tasks will include the management of deadlines and reminders. Our clients, mainly multinational companies, are very demanding and require timely responses – which is sometimes challenging. You must have strong computer skills, because you will be using Word, Outlook, Excel as well as the office electronic file management system.
You will have to be open-minded and curious, because intellectual property law and registration procedures are constantly changing and you will learn about new aspects almost every day. One of the big challenges will be to understand and keep up with the latest trends and changes in the laws and practices of Africa. You will receive an initial training, as well as documentation and materials that will allow you to get a basic understanding of intellectual property law and practice in Africa as well as of the file management system we are using. We are aware that there is no school or training course for intellectual property lawyers in Mauritius and we will therefore train you so that you can improve your skills to gradually fulfil more and more tasks.
A LLB or a degree in Law and Management is required. Work experience would be appreciated.
We offer a competitive and evolutionary salary corresponding to your experience, a dynamic work environment and possibilities to evolve in the job.
Please apply by sending a motivation letter in French and a CV in English to the e-mail mentioned in the Employer’s Profile before 27 February 2018 (Applications sent via MyJob.mu will NOT be entertained).