Importance of IP to the UK economy

To bang Nick and Andrew’s drum there is no shortage of IP lawyers. There is a shortage of business savvy IP lawyers - but then that’s all lawyers. The level of even basic IP knowledge in entrepreneur land is close to zero. Forget MBA, this should be taught at 16. The history of IP is the history of warfare, science and art. Plenty of opportunities to make it interesting!

IP is and always will be a business issue, not a legal issue. Get the IP skills into the business community where the IP is created and I guarantee the lawyers will follow.

There are already 10,000 solicitors in E&W who put IP as an area of specialisation, many of them in-house. But the subject is not recognised enough by the Law Society and others

I think IP should be of importance to the UK economy. It's not. It's a bit depressing that the top three are Pentland, Bet365 and Dyson. However, I totally agree with you that the status of IP skills within your profession should be raised as you suggest.  Its also and issue in MBA and other professional training courses. There is a chronic lack of apprecition of the role of innovation in creating wealth and the importance of IP to that worthy goal. I would be concerned that if the Law Society were to follow your lead we would end up with large numbers of more competent IP solicitors....with no work to do! When industry is baying at the doors of Parliament or The Law Society for more competent legal advice on IP across the board to fuel economic growth there may be a change. Hard as I try I can't hear any baying.