Meet the Speaker – Ben Travers
Our sponsors are always keen to learn more about tech – we asked Ben from Stephens Scown a few questions prior to his upcoming talk debating the use of Open Source licenses in software
Name: Ben Travers
Job role: Head of IP & IT Law, Stephens Scown LLP
Twitter: @stephensscown
What’s your biggest passion?
My biggest passion is learning new things!
What motivates you to do what you do?
Building a team which breaks the mould, enabling us to offer advice in innovative ways which make a real difference to the businesses we work with. That, and the privilege of being invited in by businesses to learn what makes them tick so that we can really help them to meet their goals – no two are alike.
How do you start your mornings?
If there is time (which there usually isn’t!) a run along the river – often with “Zombies, Run” – the gamification of exercise!
What does a ‘typical’ work day look like?
Varied!
We might be assisting a client with the legals around a new marketing campaign, seizing counterfeit goods or helping with a new product launch. The sheer breadth of areas we work in means there is never a dull moment.
Who do you lunch with?
I spend most of my time on the road visiting clients so I’m usually catching up with over a coffee finding out about them and their business.
When are you most productive?
Evenings, as I spend a lot of time on the road during the day.
What one thing do you try to do every day?
Remember how lucky we are to do what we love, but not take for granted the long road to get here!
What is your talk about?
Both lawyers and developers work with open source content daily. Developers love the collaborative working methodologies which open source enables yet this is often the undoing of the commercial project. The issues often don’t surface until it is too late. In this talk, we will discuss some of the key pitfalls to using open source and how to avoid them.
What is the biggest challenge in the [field/topic/industry] at the moment?
Getting businesses to understand that the law in this field (data protection, IP/IT and tech) can be used as a tool to their advantage, not as a blocker.
Thanks Ben for your answers! If you want to find out more, come along to our meetup:
