Our intellectual property solicitors help safeguard what makes your business unique - whether it’s your brand, creations, or innovations. We’re here to ensure that your intellectual assets remain exclusively yours.
Book a complimentary consultation
A short call with one of our founders about your business and your legal priorities. We reply within one business day.
Included in our subscription plans
Most IP problems don’t start with a copycat. They start with a brand name nobody registered, a contractor who still owns the code, or a licence that was never written down. These are the ones we see most weeks at Lawyerly.
Trade mark registration
We search the register for conflicts, tell you honestly how strong the mark is, and file the UK trade mark application in the right classes so the brand you are building is actually yours.
Trade mark and copyright infringement
We check what you own, set out your position to the other side and negotiate a stop, a licence or a rebrand, so the problem is dealt with before it becomes a legal fight.
IP ownership and assignment
Code from a contractor, designs from an agency, content from a freelancer: unless it is assigned in writing, it may not be yours. We put the assignments and licences in place.
intellectual property solutions
Intellectual property is not a one-off registration. Every new product, name, hire, contractor and market changes what you own and what could be taken. We build a clear picture of your IP, protect the parts that matter and keep it current as the business grows.
When something does go wrong, whether that is a copycat, a takedown notice or a partner who claims your work, you already have a solicitor who knows your brand and can act quickly.
Book a complimentary consultation
A short call with one of our founders about your business and your legal priorities. We reply within one business day.
Clearance searches, a plain risk note and UK trade mark applications in the classes that match how you trade. Subscribers have the official fee for one application in one class covered each year.
IP assignments from founders, staff and contractors, licences for the work you share with others, and the confidentiality terms that protect ideas before they are public.
Cease and desist letters, responses when you are accused of infringing, and negotiated outcomes that protect the brand without a court case. Copyright and patent questions answered, with a patent attorney brought in when one is needed.
With Lawyerly, it stops being a worry, and becomes an advantage.
We pair you with one of our qualified solicitors whose expertise and experience fits your business.
Work with your legal professional through our online Client Hub. Wherever you are, whenever you need us.
Pay a monthly subscription or a fixed fee for one-off work. The price is always agreed before we start.
Our commercial solicitors have worked at top-tier law firms and global legal departments, the kind of senior legal team most SMEs can't justify building in-house.
Legal Service Director
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Legal Service Director
SRA No. 634623
Patricia is a corporate and commercial solicitor whose practice centres on mergers and acquisitions, early-stage investment rounds (particularly angel and pre-seed), and the commercial agreements that underpin high-growth businesses. Trained at DLA Piper and seasoned through a range of in-house counsel roles, she has advised FTSE100 corporations, public bodies, and high-profile individuals.
As Senior Solicitor and Legal Services Director at Lawyerly, Patricia leads service delivery for a client base weighted toward tech and AI. She guides founders and investors through funding rounds, structures strategic acquisitions, and negotiates the subscription agreements, technology licences, and partnership arrangements that scale-ups depend on. Her fluency in data privacy, IP, and regulatory matters means she can drive the full range of workstreams that tech deals demand, keeping transactions moving and valuations protected.
Qualifications
LLB (Hons); LPC MSc in Law, Business and Management
Commercial Solicitor
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Commercial Solicitor
SRA No. 576972
James is a commercial and corporate solicitor whose practice centres on commercial contracts, technology and intellectual property, and disputes, sharpened by a keen commercial sense for how the law plays out in business reality. He has practised at Pinsent Masons, EY Law, and across a range of in-house roles, leading on SaaS and software licensing negotiations, M&A due diligence, and commercial litigation alongside international stakeholders on high-value, complex matters.
As Commercial Solicitor at Lawyerly, James brings that range to SMEs that need serious commercial advice without the complexity of a traditional firm relationship. He negotiates and manages contracts, advises on technology and IP, and helps clients pre-empt the disputes that derail growth. His particular fluency in contract management and technology law means he can tighten commercial frameworks and reduce legal risk as businesses scale.
Qualifications
LLB (Hons); LPC (Commendation)
Commercial Solicitor
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Commercial Solicitor
SRA No. 839517
Ashrelle is a commercial solicitor who built her practice at Browne Jacobson LLP, a leading UK national law firm, advising private and public sector clients on contracts, IP, and procurement. Her experience extends into real estate, clinical negligence, employment, and government infrastructure, giving her a breadth few solicitors at her level can offer.
As Commercial Solicitor at Lawyerly, Ashrelle focuses on practical commercial advice for growing businesses, building the long-term client relationships that turn legal counsel into trusted partnership. She is as comfortable reviewing a software agreement as steering a complex procurement, and her employment expertise lets her advise on the people-side issues that sit alongside the commercial ones, keeping clients covered across the full picture of their business as it scales.
Qualifications
LLB (Hons); LPC LLM
Co-Founder & Director
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Co-Founder & Director
Jackie has spent twenty years working on how legal services reach the people and businesses that need them. Before co-founding Lawyerly she built and led one of Africa's largest alternative legal organisations, growing it to more than 500 people serving 100,000 clients, and her work there was recognised in legal services, technology, innovation and dispute resolution. She holds a PhD, awarded with distinction, and has been named among the top five women in legal technology.
At Lawyerly she is responsible for the firm's strategic direction. Her starting point has not changed in two decades: the law should work for the people who use it, rather than the other way round. That view shapes how Lawyerly is run, from how services are priced to how matters are staffed.
Qualifications
LLB; MPhil (Cum Laude); PhD (Top Achiever Award); Key Regulatory Compliance Certifications
Co-Founder
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Co-Founder
Willem co-founded Lawyerly after twenty years of running and advising businesses, most of which were spent as a client of law firms rather than a member of one. He had seen how legal advice tends to arrive: late, priced by the hour, and detached from the commercial decision that prompted it. Lawyerly grew out of a conviction that it could be done differently.
He read law and marketing at university and later completed MIT Sloan's executive programme in artificial intelligence and business strategy. His career before Lawyerly took in two advertising agencies, which he led through the industry's move to digital, several years in digital publishing, and a period in international development, working on programmes across South East Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa.
At Lawyerly he is responsible for growth and for the client experience, ensuring our clients receive the legal support they need.
Qualifications
BA Law; AI Business Strategy (MIT); Nomadic Marketing (UCT)
Director
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Director
Jan began his career in law before broadening into corporate strategy and technology. He holds a Master's in Corporate Law and an MBA, and later completed a Master's in Applied Data Science, driven by a conviction that the legal profession could do far more with the data it generates. That combination of legal, commercial, and analytical training has shaped a career spent rethinking how legal services are designed and delivered, with a particular focus on projects that use data and digital tools to improve legal processes.
As Director at Lawyerly, Jan brings data analytics, financial management, and strategy to the firm. His blend of legal grounding, commercial instinct, and technical fluency means Lawyerly's growth is guided by someone who understands the practice as deeply as the business behind it.
Qualifications
LLB; LLM; MBA; MSc
Answers to the questions we hear most often, on how the subscription works, what it covers and how we charge.
Trade mark clearance searches and UK applications, advice on which classes to file in, IP assignments from founders, employees and contractors, licence agreements for work you share or use, confidentiality agreements, cease and desist letters when someone copies you, and a considered response when someone accuses you. Copyright and design questions are covered too. Patents need a patent attorney, so we tell you when that applies and work alongside them. Subscribers get ongoing advice as new names, products and partners come along.
Yes. Our subscription plans include the legal work of searching and filing, and on Accelerate, Scale and Enterprise we also cover the UK Intellectual Property Office fee for one trade mark application in one class each year. You can file more; you just pay the IPO fee on the rest. If you are not a subscriber, we work on a fixed fee agreed in advance.
Yes, if the brand matters to you. Registering a company at Companies House or buying a domain gives you no exclusive right to the name as a brand. A registered trade mark does, and it is far easier to enforce than an unregistered one. It also stops someone else registering the name and forcing you to rebrand later, which is the more common problem.
An uncontested UK application usually takes around four months from filing to registration: a few weeks for the IPO to examine it, then a two-month period in which others can object. Most applications go through without objection, especially where a clearance search has been done first. Protection runs for ten years and can be renewed indefinitely.
Not automatically. Under UK law the person who creates a work usually owns the copyright in it, even when you paid for it, unless they are your employee acting in the course of their job or they have assigned it to you in writing. Agencies, freelancers and offshore developers all fall on the wrong side of that line. A short assignment fixes it, and we check the position across everything you rely on.
Gather the evidence and call us before you contact them. We check what rights you hold, how strong they are and whether the other side has a defence, then put your position in a letter that is firm without being reckless. Most brand disputes end in the other party rebranding, licensing or stopping. If it goes further than that, we tell you the likely cost at each step. Trade mark oppositions and infringement proceedings are specialist work we refer to a trusted firm when needed.
An IP question rarely arrives alone. These are the services our IP clients use most.
Disputes resolved through negotiation and pre-action steps, protecting the relationship and your cash flow without the courtroom.
ExploreLegal planning that gets ahead of problems, so decisions, growth and compliance are handled before they become urgent.
ExploreLeases drafted, reviewed and negotiated to fit how your business trades, with no surprises hidden in the terms.
ExploreLearn how our services can benefit you by scheduling a call with one of our team members.
Book a complimentary consultation
A short call with one of our founders about your business and your legal priorities. We reply within one business day.
Willem van der Merwe
Co-Founder
Read profile
Co-Founder
Willem co-founded Lawyerly after twenty years of running and advising businesses, most of which were spent as a client of law firms rather than a member of one. He had seen how legal advice tends to arrive: late, priced by the hour, and detached from the commercial decision that prompted it. Lawyerly grew out of a conviction that it could be done differently.
He read law and marketing at university and later completed MIT Sloan's executive programme in artificial intelligence and business strategy. His career before Lawyerly took in two advertising agencies, which he led through the industry's move to digital, several years in digital publishing, and a period in international development, working on programmes across South East Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa.
At Lawyerly he is responsible for growth and for the client experience, ensuring our clients receive the legal support they need.
Qualifications
BA Law; AI Business Strategy (MIT); Nomadic Marketing (UCT)
