Skills Transfer and Development

One of our key strengths is the transfer of skills and development and we take great pride in the following projects:

University of Pretoria – IP Centre

We have been involved since 2008 in the IP Centre of the Faculty of Law at the University of Pretoria when we established the Centre for Intellectual Property Law (UPIP) with the express purpose of creating a synergy between the academic resources and expertise in the Faculty of Law and the practical legal experience and strength of Adams & Adams. The UPIP served as a platform for the promotion and development of IP Law in Africa by advancing and disseminating knowledge in respect of intellectual property. To this end, the Centre is still engaged in research, presentation of the LLM degree in Intellectual Property Law, supervision of research students at both LLM and LLD level and the development and presentation of short courses on IP law. Although our sponsorship recently ended, many of the partners in the trade mark department regularly lectured to students and our retired partner, Professor Chris Job (still a senior consultant in the firm’s trade mark department), headed UPIP for a number of years.  Our partners still make themselves available to lecture to law students. 

WIPO Inventor Assistance Programme

Adams & Adams has become the first southern African Intellectual Property Law Firm to join the international Inventor Assistance Programme. The Inventor Assistance Program (IAP), a WIPO initiative in cooperation with the World Economic Forum, is the first global programme of its kind. It matches developing country inventors and small businesses with limited financial means with patent attorneys, who provide pro bono legal assistance to secure patent protection. After a pilot phase in three countries – Colombia, Morocco, and the Philippines – the IAP is now officially part of WIPO’s programmes.

Secretarial Training Centre

At Adams & Adams our goal is to improve the productivity, performance and capability of the people we train. The Adams & Adams Secretarial Training Centre was opened in 2002 with the aim of equipping men and women, from previously disadvantaged backgrounds, with essential secretarial skills and knowledge. Twelve students are selected each year to undergo a training curriculum of 9 months. They are typically all employed by the firm.

E.V. Adams and Nondumiso Msimang Scholarship

Named after one of our founders, Eustace Adams, the E.V. Adams Scholarship is awarded annually to one student, who displays exceptional abilities and whom the firm deems deserving on the basis of their legal aptitude, academic merit, and financial need. Students from previously disadvantaged communities, persons of colour, and who study law, are invited to apply.

As part of the Adams & Adams career and development programme, we have introduced a second bursary for an underprivileged student.  This bursary is named after our beloved partner, Nondumiso Msimang, who sadly passed away from Covid 19 earlier this year. It will be awarded in the same manner as our long-standing E.V. Adams Scholarship for 2022.   The bursaries will be provided to students with a view to employment as candidate attorneys at Adams & Adams. Both the E.V Adams and Nondumiso Msimang bursary winners will be asked to participate in our vacation programme and will be invited to act as a campus-based brand ambassadors for the firm from time to time. The programme has been enormously successful and some of our historical bursary students are now partners of the firm.