Making the most of INTA committees
Managing IP is part of the Delinian Group, Delinian Limited, 4 Bouverie Street, London, EC4Y 8AX, Registered in England & Wales, Company number 00954730
Copyright © Delinian Limited and its affiliated companies 2024

Accessibility | Terms of Use | Privacy Policy | Modern Slavery Statement

Making the most of INTA committees

INTA members got a lesson in how not to make the most of the organization’s network of committees on Sunday, with panelists running through many of the don’ts of committee leadership to highlight what would-be committee chairs should do instead.

Joseph V. Norvell of Norvell IP, David J. Cho of AT&T Services, Inc., Marion Heathcote of Davies Collison Cave, and Iris V. Quadrio of Marval of O’Farrell & Mairal, explained why doing all the work yourself is a bad idea, how micromanaging a committee saps enthusiasm and how failing to be sensitive to members’ cultural backgrounds might result in the committee being unable to use its members’ abilities to the full.

“Don’t yell at people who aren’t active on the committee,” warned Cho. “Find out what’s really going on.” Other advice ranged from the need to be responsive to volunteers by answering their queries promptly, to mixing up the methods by which committee members communicate to avoid relying too heavily on conference calls­—which may not always be the preferred communication option for non-native English speakers. And the panelists proposed a test for committee chairs worried that they might not be doing a good job: “The number one sign is that you don’t get invited to the committee happy hour.”

But would-be committee leaders were not the only ones who received a lesson during the session. The panelists also explained how committee members can maximize their contribution, helping both INTA and their own career in the process.

“This isn’t a time to be shy,” said Heathcote. “This is a volunteer organization. If you wait to be asked to take on a task, you could wait forever.”Quadrio summarized the key advice for INTA committee members: “It’s about team work. Be active, go the extra mile and speak up. It’s definitely worth it. It’s a very rewarding experience.”

more from across site and ros bottom lb

More from across our site

As Australia’s Qantm IP leans towards being acquired by a private equity company, sources discuss what it could mean for IP firms
Law firms that are conscious of their role in society are more likely to win work, according to a survey of over 23,000 in-house professionals
Pham Nghiem Xuan Bac, managing partner of Vision & Associates, discusses opportunities created by the US-China rift as well as profitability issues facing IP practices
Douglas Leite and two of his colleagues were intrigued by Bhering Advogados’s mission to grow its patent litigation practice
Each week Managing IP speaks to a different IP practitioner about their life and career
Counsel explain how pricing flexibility, patent agents and being business partners can help them maintain profitable patent prosecution practices
We provide a rundown of Managing IP’s news and analysis from the week, and review what’s been happening elsewhere in IP
Speakers at an INTA event weighed in on why firms should create AI use policies and how they stay on top of the latest developments
The England and Wales Court of Appeal backed Lidl in its trademark dispute with Tesco, but we should pay more attention to how we rule on first-instance decisions
Richard Kempner, partner at Haseltine Lake Kempner, discusses the ‘remarkable’ comments from judges, despite the court finding against his client Tesco on the bulk of issues
Gift this article