Swindell & Pearson Ltd

Tim is an associate with specialisms in both engineering and tech. His main role is to secure patent and registered design protection which meets the business needs of his clients, both in the UK and worldwide. Tim’s clients range from small start-ups to internationally-renowned universities and world-famous companies.

One of Tim’s favourite parts of his role is developing and maintaining strong relationships with clients: he regularly visits clients’ premises in order to discuss cases and discuss important developments in their business (including upcoming products, competitors’ products and market trends). By developing such a deep understanding of clients’ intellectual property and their business contexts, Tim is able to make valuable suggestions to clients about how to leverage their intellectual property.

Tim is recommended in the Legal 500 with the testimonial ‘Tim Gilbert is extremely customer focused, open to feedback and responsive to our requests. Our positive experience of S&P has so much to do with the way he has personally managed our account. We are most grateful for his attention to detail and his prompt actions, which have kept us on track over the past few years.’

Tim’s legal skills extend to complex situations such as infringement, ownership of intellectual property, software patenting, and applying the legal systems of other countries. He can also prepare patent applications that are optimised for the ‘Patent Box’ corporation tax scheme.

Tim handles technology across most of the physical sciences, including telecoms, computing and general engineering.

Before joining the profession, Tim graduated with a PhD in Civil Engineering from the University of Birmingham. His thesis is entitled ‘Aerodynamic Effects of High Speed Trains in Confined Spaces’. Testing included catapulting 1:25 scale model trains along a track at speeds of up to 200mph past aerodynamic sensors.

Outside of work, Tim enjoys spending time with family. He enjoys playing guitar, going to concerts, and playing tabletop games.

Tim joined the profession in 2013 and trained at Swindell & Pearson. Qualified 2018. Tim is the law committee lead for Design law.

English, Finnish

CIPA, EPI

University of Birmingham, M.Eng Civil Engineering, 2006-2010 (1st class)

University of Birmingham, PhD Civil Engineering, 2010-2013