Gill Jennings & Every: the first 100 years

2012 is GJE's centenary year. Here's the story so far

January 2012

In the early 20th century, London’s Chancery Lane retained an almost Dickensian air. It was the hub of the English legal profession, with a host of patent and trade mark attorneys and notaries working either along the Lane or within a stone’s throw of it. Business was conducted formally in smoke-blackened offices and sometimes informally in a cluster of hostelries including the Blue Anchor, Henekeys and Mooneys in High Holborn, or the Seven Stars in Carey Street.

So it was natural that when the 31 year-old Hubert Gill decided to found his new firm with a colleague Ridsdale Ellis in 1912 he chose 55/56 Chancery Lane.  That initial partnership was brief and by the end of that year Ellis had emigrated for America, leaving H A Gill & Co. behind him.  The firm remained in the same building for 10 years until the arrival of Henry (Harry) Jennings coincided with the move to larger premises just two doors down from the Patent Office; 51/52 Chancery Lane was to be the firm’s home for the next 60 years.

In 1924 the firm took on Cecil Every-Clayton; a metallurgy graduate straight from Cambridge.  His double-barrelled surname survived into the 1930s before he trimmed it to give the Gill Jennings & Every we know today.
  

 

The trio were a team to be reckoned with; Gill enjoyed contentious court work and soon established an international reputation as an expert witness, while Jennings concentrated on the firms “normal” work.  Every made the firm’s first foray into trade marks.  He was a forceful character who in later years would indicate the end of a meeting by publicly switching off his hearing aid.

They also had a substantial influence on the industry.  Their philosophy of in-house training (which has continued until today) spawned several generations of attorneys who either became partners with the firm or spread across the profession.  Between them Gill, Jennings and Every managed to serve for at least 70 years on the Chartered Institute of Patent Attorneys council, each serving at least one term as president.  Moreover, Every was instrumental in transforming the Institute from a professional club into a more outward looking international and educational organisation and, following his retirement from the firm in 1971, was also the launch editor of its professional journal.

During this period the growing firm also helped birth a number of influential inventions from the angle-poise lamp and the sapphire gramophone needle to improvements in the way that Penicillin was grown in culture; patented in the middle of the second world war.

Despite the war, and Every’s full time-secondment to the Home Guard, the firm thrived.  In 1947 Teddy Matthews and Tony Chapman became partners and GJE became established as a firm that included partners in addition to those involved in its original creation.

During the 40s and 50s GJE started to expand internationally.  Harry Jennings embarked on a series of Atlantic sea voyages which resulted in close relations with many established New York, Washington and Boston law firms.  Teddy Matthews, who was an excellent linguist, built up the firm’s European networks.  The firm extended its international presence further in the 1970s when another partner, Peter Jackson, travelled extensively, building lasting relationships in Japan.

The European profession in the mid 1970's was very uncertain about the effect of the impending European patent system which finally came into force in 1978.  Recruitment across the industry stalled with many firms either worrying that the European Patent Office would be ineffective or feeling threatened by the idea of a single European application replacing all of their national applications. In contrast, GJE consistently welcomed the EPO system and encouraging clients to use it from its launch. The firm also continued to recruit extensively.

 

Peter Jackson and Robin Lawrence promoted the EPO route around the world, Robin Lawrence, at the request of the British Government, even participating as one of two European speakers in a week-long seminar organised by WIPO in Beijing in 1981, to encourage the Chinese Government to develop its patent system of examiners and attorneys. These initiatives set a trend which continues to this day with GJE partners travelling extensively to speak and take part in international meetings and organisations.

What of the future?

In more recent years, the firm has expanded to some 13 partners with nearly 100 members of the firm occupying an office in the heart of The City of London.  While filing and prosecuting patent and trade mark applications for international clients continue to play a significant part in the life of the firm, particularly as manufacturing industry declined in the UK, the country's reputation as a leader in the realm of invention and a growing realisation that IP is an important tool in the development armoury has meant that GJE's attorneys have continued to develop their range of activities into IP consultancy and litigation.

As the firm continues to develop and change, so a recent move from its Eldon Street location a few hundred yards northwards to the Broadgate Tower in Primrose Street, has given new impetus to the working methods and client relationships.  The continual changes in the fields of technology, marketing and IP mean that patent and trade mark attorneys need, correspondingly, to maintain and develop new skills and ways of working, things which GJE attorneys are well-placed and keen to achieve. GJE thrives on change and as we move beyond the early years of the 21st century we look forward to continuing development in our professional activities and our relationships with our ever-widening circle of clients.

 

This article was based on a personal record left by Guy Jennings, Harry Jennings’ elder son and a partner from 1965 until 1987 and on further written recollections from Robin Lawrence a partner from 1969 until 2005. We are also indebted to Steve van Dulken of the British Library’s Business & IP Centre for his help in researching our historic patents www.bl.uk/bipc