CMS

Firm overview:

One of the largest UK law firms by lawyer count, CMS is acknowledged as a heavyweight trademark contender, managing tens of thousands of trademark records and hefty global portfolios. Its prosecution capability is highly sought out by some of the world’s most recognisable brands. Peers cite the firm as a frequent opponent on trademark matters; CMS

has abundant reserves of legal talent familiar with handling enforcement and dispute proceedings at the UK Intellectual Property Office, EU Intellectual Property Office, English and Scottish courts and before the Company Names Tribunal.

Team overview:

CMS has nine UK offices in the UK, and a trademark team spanning over 100 professionals. Leadership of the IP practice is distributed between two experienced partners.

These are Sarah Wright, co-head of IP, who has built strong relationships with an illustrious range of names, including new portfolios for clients Jaguar Land Rover and Crown Agents Bank alongside well-established relationships with Microsoft, Legal & General and ITV.

Fellow co-head of IP Joel Vertes is “very well reputed” and has a substantial practice across both non-contentious and contentious matters. In addition, he leads CMS’s firmwide franchising practice.

Tom Scourfield, former co-head of the International IP Group and now UK chair of the Consumer Products Sector Group, is widely recognised for his contentious IP mandates and advisory work on high-profile cases for some of the best known brands.

Eleanor Merrett leads the firm’s growing Northern trademark team which runs out of the CMS Sheffield offices, and is building an impressive practice advising a number of household names including Sainsbury’s, Dune shoes and Marie Curie.

Dual qualified solicitor and chartered trademark attorney Kelly Saliger is “brilliant” according to an industry peer. The most recent past president of the Chartered Institute of Trade Mark Attorneys (CITMA), Saliger specialises in trademark prosecution, enforcement and strategy.

In September 2025, senior IP associate Oscar Webb left the team to become a partner at D Young & Co, taking an accomplished litigation practice focused on trademark, copyright and design right disputes.