Phillips & Leigh was founded in 1882 - the same year as the original Institute of Patent Agents, though we have records dating back to 1876. Mr J. F. Phillips, the founder with Mr H. H. Leigh, was associated with a company which, with many changes, is still a client.  We are honoured to have had in our time four members of the firm elected President of the Chartered Institute of Patent Agents.

For many years, the firm remained a one or two man practice but it expanded in 1975 on the accession of present partners Robert Weston and Bob Farwell.  It was determined to extend the firm's core expertise and consequently, Jim Boff became a partner in 1986.  The Client base expanded steadily and by the late 1990s, Martin Hammler and then Keith Farwell had joined the partnership reflecting the increasing expansion of the practise and importance of trade marks.  In 2004 Bob Farwell retired from the partnership and in 2007 Clare Lorimer joined the partnership.

John Weston, Clare Lorimer and Nashim Imam and Robert McDougall, additional trade mark and patent fee earners, joined the practice in 1993, 1997, 2004 and 2006 respectively.  John Weston currently also serves as the Practice Manager, reflecting the growth of the business itself in requiring a full time dedicated management function, and is our in-house IT specialist.  To meet our clients' demands for an ever expanding range of services, we recruited Madeleine Gurney, a Solicitor, in 2000.

In 2000, the firm relocated from its premises of the past 20 years, specifically to accommodate further planned expansion.