Philip Denny Mathew (Intellectual Property LLM, 2024)

2 January 2025

Tell us about your background and you did before your studies at Centre for Commercial Law Studies?

I am 25 years old, originally from Kerala, India. I belong to a family of five which consist of my father, mother and two sisters. I am the middle child. My father is a qualified civil engineer who runs his own construction and real estate business in Kerala, while my mother is a dedicated home maker and a partner in all of my father’s endeavours. My eldest sister is a graduate in MSc. Statistics from Warwick, while my younger sister is pursuing her undergrad degree in Commerce in Cochin.

Talking about my academic journey, I finished my undergraduate degree In Bachelors of Commerce and Legum Baccalaureus from the School of Law at SRM Institute of Science and Technology in May 2022, and following September, I enrolled myself as an Advocate with the Bar Council of Kerala, and later gave my All-India Bar Council Exam, making me a member of the Bar Council of India. Shortly afterwards, I joined the law firm ‘Biz and Legis’ in Kerala, where I started my career in litigation as a Trainee associate under the supervision of the senior advocate of the firm, Adv. Jolly John. My job description mainly consisted of representing the firm’s cases before the Hon’ble District and High Court of Kerala. Most cases that I handled were of civil natured matters with some Intellectual Property (IP) Law cases.  Around the same time, I started researching and sending applications to Universities in the UK to do an LLM, and later secured my admission for IP LLM at QMUL. I worked in this firm until came to London in September 2023 to pursue my LLM. After completing my course and graduated, I’m planning to go back to India where I have an option to either continue my career in the same law firm, or start a new position with another firm. At the moment, I’m taking some time to myself and doing some backpacking across the UK, while waiting for my graduation ceremony in January 2025.  

Why did you choose to study at CCLS?

I knew for a while that I wanted to do my LLM abroad because I believe it offers an international perspective of how things are done, that would help me boost my career and more importantly, help me grow as a person by becoming a global citizen. Additionally, not many academic institutions in India offered a LLM specialized in IP. Since there was range of universities that offered an IP specialized LLM in the UK, there was no question about where to apply afterwards. I decided to do IP in particular because I found it interesting when I studied a bit of it during my undergrads. In addition to it, from my experience in litigation, I was able to realise that IP is a booming industry among businesses and corporates in India and have a lot of potential in the future. However, at present there are certain shortcomings in this field and lacks qualified professionals to tackle issues related to it. I wanted to learn IP for my LLM so that I can handle cases of this nature with confidence and knowledge when I return back to India. Additionally, my mentor from the law firm where I worked, who is a qualified IP professional from NUS, had a hand in influencing me to take IP as my major for the LLM programme.

When it came to selecting the right university for my LLM, I had no doubts about choosing QMUL, especially CCLS. A few of my friends who were already in London, recommended CCLS because of its established and excellent reputation in IP law. All of them consistently said that if I can get a place at CCLS, I should consider myself lucky and definitely go for it. Out of all the other universities that I looked, CCLS offered more range of IP modules than anywhere else. Hence, I knew that I wanted to do my LLM here. Also, I felt that Queen Mary emphasised and promoted more about diversity among student population the most than any other universities that I considered. This is very important to me as coloured person. Hence, I wanted to go to QMUL for those reasons as well. Additionally, London being a vibrant and diverse city with many cultures, and with CCLS being located at the heart of London city, was also another reason I chose it. And now that I have completed my LLM, I would say that it was the right decision I made about coming here, and university does do what it preaches about diversity.   

How were things before you received the Roy Goode Scholarship funding?

Getting the Scholarship had a huge impact for me from the financial perspective. It is not easy for an Indian student to afford the UK university tuition fee as it involves a lot of money. Many students rely on bank loans and other monetary aids to affords UK education. In such a circumstance, for 50% of it being covered by the Scholarship makes a huge difference. But more than the financial aid, it helped me build my self-confidence. Before receiving the scholarship, I had the habit of undermining myself a bit and had major self-trust issues. I would always think to myself that everything I achieved was just mediocre and not up to the standards. I even almost felt like maybe getting accepted for the course at QMUL was just a hand of luck rather than my hard work.  However, once I got shortlisted for Mishcon de Reya scholarship and then later got offered the Roy Goode Scholarship, I felt the university saw something in me that I didn’t see myself - a potential. The same feeling of great achievement lingered throughout the whole study period that helped me graduate with a Distinction. After graduation and getting my degree, I felt validated knowing that others had more confidence in me that I had in myself. The whole experience at CCLS gave me a lot more confidence in myself and helped me improve my abilities.

Getting the Scholarship helped me to stay focused throughout the studies and gave me a lot of motivation. Knowing that I was one out of the only two students to receive the scholarship among 100 of application and, also aware of the fact that someone is investing in me made me want to justify it and, work hard for it and not take it lightly. Every time I did an exam or worked on my essays, it acted as a driving force to prove that the potential the university saw in me is true and I did not want disappoint.

Originally, I didn’t apply for Roy Goode Scholarship as I was under the impression that it was an invite only scholarship program that the university extend to a selected few students rather than for all students to apply for it. Therefore, I applied for the 100% tuition fee wavering scholarship extended by Mishcon De Rey. Eventually, I got shortlisted and had an interview with Prof. Angelos Dimopoulos and Prof. Anne Flanagan, the LLM directors from CCLS. During this interview, I mentioned that my father was the one funding me privately from his savings and that I wanted to apply for the scholarship as way of helping him out with the funds as sponsoring me to study in the UK without any external financial aid would cost him a fortune, especially while funding my younger sister’s education parallelly. Even with this, my father never complained about sponsoring me nor did he allow me to take any educational loan in my name as he did not want me to bare any financial burden upon myself as he thought it could have an impact on my education. He was very generous and did his level best to keep me comfortable. So, I felt that the least I could do is to apply for all the available scholarships, that could lift some that financial burden off him. Unfortunately, I wasn’t successful for Mishcon de Rey scholarship but the LLM directors who interviewed me were so impressed with my academic track record and my interview performance that they offered me the Roy Goode scholarship instead.

Do you think financial worries weigh heavily on students?

Definitely. Especially for students from India, the course fees and living costs in the UK is a big amount that they would have to consider. Many are put in a position having to borrow money from someone or take the help of some kind of external financial aid like bank loans or student loans, just to arrange the funds to come to the UK. Later, these student start working part time jobs during the time of their course just to support themselves in the UK. I have personally seen some cases where students would have to miss a class because their work shift was allotted at the same time, and they are not in a position to skip work over class because they are in need of money. This creates a tension and a huge financial worry that lingers throughout their studies and even afterwards. Therefore, I believe that even the smallest amount of scholarship or donation can help take off some of this financial worry.

In my case, if I ever not to get this scholarship, I don’t think it would have a drastic impacted on my decision to come here, but it could have severely affected my self-confidence, and would have resulted in me putting more pressure on my academic performance in an unhealthy manner that could have later taken a toll on my physical and mental health. I am not saying that all students who didn’t receive a financial aid goes through the same feelings or, that receiving the scholarship has entirely eliminated that feeling, but it does help one to an extent where you worry a little less about money matters, and helps to manage the academic pressure. As I mentioned earlier, receiving that scholarship did boost my confidence, and helped me stay focused throughout my entire academic journey in a healthier manner. Moreover, my decision to go backpacking across UK right now steamed from knowing that I only have a little less to worry about my financial condition, because of which I am getting to experience the diverse and unique culture UK has to offer, and this wouldn’t have happened if it was not for the Roy Goode scholarship.     

What are your plans for the future?

Doing this LLM has opened up a lot of opportunities for me now as I am planning on going back to India after my graduation. As I have mentioned earlier, I do have an option to continue my old job at the firm where I was previously working. But the past 12 months here in London has shown me that even if I go back to the old job, I will likely be promoted to a better position with a better pay and allowed to focus more on IP cases. Looking into the future I know that other law firms in India are also looking for specialists like me because of the growing IP sector. Therefore, I do believe that there is a huge potential for career development back home.

This degree will definitely open a lot of doors for my future career progression. Without it, it would have taken me a longer time to become an IP specialist. From what I have seen, IP sector in the UK is a lot more advanced than it is in India. We have very few trained professionals to resolve complicated issues in this field. But India is booming with a lot of opportunities with many foreign investments, and people are starting to recognize importance of IP but there is a shortage of trained specialist who know how to handle these issues. Now that I am trained in this specialisation, along with many other Indian students, all of us together can contribute towards the development of the IP landscape of our country.

What would you like to say to donors who support the Roy Good Scholarship Fund?

If I was in a position to donate right now I would do it as part of a good cause as it can make such a big difference to another person’s life. It certainly had an impact on my life! As I have said multiple times, I was a person really doubting myself but this gesture of the funds being donated for the Scholarship and being awarded to me, started to validate myself and helped me gain confidence. This was a huge stepping stone in improving myself. Some of my friends from the university have received some other scholarships and I do know from their experience as to how it turned out well for them. It is not just about eliminating financial worry, but it also helps one to boost their confidence tremendously. This means that the university has looked at your experience before and validated everything you’ve done and that you are worthy. The impact you can have on someone’s life by donating towards a scholarship is very positive and the feeling you can have by being able to touching another person’s life must be incredible.

How you can donate to support future students

Your contribution, regardless of its size, and when combined with the generosity of others, will provide life-changing opportunities for future CCLS students. You can also sign up for regular giving to support CCLS regularly.

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