CEO Today - UK Awards 2023

Martyn is a partner and CEO at HGF. He has been with the firm for over 19 years. Before becoming CEO he held various leadership positions, the most significant being head of the European law team for over 10 years. Martyn is currently leading an ambitious program of change within HGF, following a new strategy for the firm for the period 2023-26. As a solicitor his legal expertise covers multi-jurisdictional IP litigation, including a number of high profile cases in the pharmaceutical and consumer brand market. He also advises on IP agreements. as I would have liked. The use of technology has changed how we operate our business, the COVID-19 pandemic has taught us valuable lessons as to how we can be more flexible with our working practices, and of course the UPC is the biggest change to the patent landscape in a generation. There are areas of the industry which have not changed as fast as probably they should have. I am very aware that the IP profession overall is still quite traditional and in general is not as diverse as it should be. Although there has been more of an effort across the profession in recent years, there has not been substantial change. Hopefully the profession is now more open to change and at HGF we are committed to playing our part in this. What does this award mean to you? To me, this award recognises how far HGF has developed as a business over the past 20 years. In common with many of my colleagues, HGF has given me many opportunities to develop my skills as the business has grown. It is important to me that we continue to grow and develop our business so that we can offer everyone within our firm the best opportunities to develop their own careers. In 2010, I was promoted into the partnership and began to take on more management responsibilities. Understanding how the partnership model operates is vital to my current role. I became the head of our law team and gained considerable insight into the business side of our practice and how to manage a team. I also became head of the Leeds office (our largest office with over 120 employees), which further developed my people management skills. All of the above has given me a strong understanding of the IP industry, how an IP firm works, the nuances of life in a partnership and the management skills essential to carry out my current role. It has in effect been a 17-year apprenticeship! In what ways have you seen the IP sector grow and change during your 19+ years at HGF? How is the firm tapping into these changes? There have been many changes over the years as you would expect, although many things have remained constant and some things have not changed as much www.ceotodaymagazine.com CEO Today United Kingdom Awards 2023 35

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