I'm Neil, a patent and trademark attorney in Toronto, Canada. 

My professional interests centre on the protection of intellectual property, with a particular emphasis on the protection of computer-implemented inventions.

I have drafted dozens of patent applications ranging from simple mechanical devices to complex software innovations.

I currently work in-house as a part of the legal team at Shopify. At Shopify, my role as Associate General Counsel, Intellectual Property spans all aspects of IP. A particular focus of my work is supervising the drafting and filing of new patent applications for Shopify and directing the prosecution of Shopify's worldwide patent portfolio. I also supervise the protection and enforcement of Shopify's other IP including its trademarks.

Before I entered the world of law and intellectual property, I worked in software engineering at Microsoft and Red Hat on distributed systems and database systems variously as a developer and as a PM.