In regulations that went into effect on 1 July 2008, Australian patent attorneys will be required to spend at least 10 hours a year in ongoing training.
The requirements for qualifying in Australia seem similar to those in Israel, with two years training and an experienced licensed practitioner being required. In Israel, we do not have an ongoing training requirement, but it seems a good idea.
That said, I would imagine that most Israel patent attorneys do attend conferences or seminars in Israel or abroad. Indeed, the seminars we organized this past year were well attended by patent attorneys working in industry or for the smaller firms.
One of the advantages of the merger between Fa(c)tor Patent Attorneys and JMB & Co. is that the combined workforce will be large enough to make internal training seminars feasible.
