Linda, based in our Malmö office in Sweden, is a European Trade Mark and Designs Attorney and Rouse Principal. She has more than 25 years’ IP experience, ranging from protection, management and commercialisation to enforcement and dispute resolution. She has worked regularly with some of the world’s leading brands, and been responsible for building and managing highly effective, strategically focused professional teams.
In an age of ever-increasing specialisation and technological advancement, one might expect professional life to be focusing on technical expertise to the exclusion of all else. But, to some extent at least, the opposite seems to be happening. Businesses, particularly those providing professional services, are increasingly recognising the value of those essentially human skills that add an extra dimension and enable their services to go beyond technical excellence. It is this extra dimension that helps build long-lasting and satisfying client relationships, and create a supportive and productive working environment. Linda is a highly regarded IP professional, but her contribution to the extra dimension is particularly noteworthy – not only in the services she provides directly to clients, but also in the help she gives to others. What makes this possible is her quiet inner confidence and her genuine interest in and love of people. These characteristics underlie everything she does.
Linda grew up in Lund, a university city in Southern Sweden, but when she was nine, the family transferred to the United States for a few years due to her father’s work. It was a very formative time for Linda. Before leaving Sweden, she had only basic English, but during her years in the US she quickly adapted, both linguistically and socially. Linda's mother, a teacher, played a huge part in that, helping ensure that she and her sisters adapted quickly to their new life. Linda enjoyed playing basketball, not so much the competition, more the team aspect. She remembers connecting with new people and experiencing a new environment, even if at times she felt she stood out because she was different from everyone else. Through all this she developed the inner confidence that has stayed with her and enables her to do what she does in the way she does it.
From an early age, Linda was encouraged to take her studies seriously and to do her best in whatever she pursued. She says that she and her two younger sisters just automatically fell into line and always did well academically. Linda initially felt a bit lost studying Law, she didn’t see herself as a typical lawyer. But when an uncle who worked in IP started explaining what it was all about, she was fascinated, and once she started studying it, she knew it was for her. Now she loves working with innovators and innovations, and developing long term relationships with clients, where she feels more strategic partner than lawyer.
Very early on in her career she was given leadership responsibilities. Whereas some people might find this a burden, she absolutely loved it from the outset. She liked building teams, getting people to work well together, while at the same time ensuring that individuals within the team were developing personally. Realizing that this was a true passion, and at the same time developing an interest in neuroscience, she decided to deepen her understanding of how people develop and train as a professional coach. Wanting to build a strong foundation, she obtained an ICF coaching certification from the International Coaching Federation, widely recognised as a leading standard in the profession. Then she began coaching for her firm Valea, the European IP firm that was acquired by Rouse in 2022, as well as doing some private coaching. Her coaching covered a wide range of issues from personal to professional career issues including grooming for leadership roles. She has since gone on to establish her own counselling business and now works one day a week in that. As she puts it: “I’m one day a week in my practice; then 110% Rouse”. After 20 years in a team leader role, she decided to step down from that and concentrate on mentoring and client development, which she also loves. She says that in accommodating this and understanding the benefits, Rouse has been far-sighted.
Although Linda’s early drive and ambition remains, she is realizing, as she gets older, the importance of an appropriate work/life balance. Her family has always been important to her – and so has music. Her love of music started early. Her father was always listening to music, mostly jazz and rock. She would often listen with him and they would go to concerts together, always just the two of them. Then, at university, she met her husband who, at the time, was part of a band that was making its second record. Although this meant he was a rare visitor to the university library, he was at least there enough to make Linda’s acquaintance – and, ultimately, to graduate in Economics. Now he is Marketing Director with an international company. Music, however, remains an important part of their life. Sport is too. They have two sons, the elder, Adam, now 20, the younger, Jakob, 18. Adam, a talented handball player,* left home at 15 to play for a major team and is now studying Economics at Gothenburg University. For Jakob, basketball was a big part of growing up, and today he continues that interest as a coach for a girls’ team of 13-year-olds. Like their parents, both boys go for things 100% - it seems to be a consistent family trait – but they can all relax at the family’s summer house in an old fishing village on the south east coast. It is Linda’s favourite place in the world and there she indulges another of her passions, gardening, and enjoys walking their dog, Baloo, a Labradoodle, along the beach.
Linda’s skills, personality traits, and interests enable her to bring an extra dimension to the practice of the law.
*an Olympic team sport, hugely popular in northern European countries 