Paula Clancy

About Paula Clancy

Trademarks sit at the centre of Paula Clancy's work as a partner in Gowling WLG's Ottawa office. Clancy is a lawyer and a registered trademark agent, and holds the Law Society of Ontario's Certified Specialist designation in IP (Trademarks). In-house legal departments bring Clancy in almost as one of their own, to plan filings, look after brand portfolios around the world and help with procurement. Clients range from start-ups and SMEs up to large public companies and several global brands, in fields like fashion, cosmetics, sports, banking, tech and life sciences. Women-owned and minority-owned businesses are part of that mix, too.

The career began at Gowling in 1994, two years before Clancy's 1996 call to the Ontario bar. In 2008 Clancy stepped away to gain more control over time as both a parent and a lawyer, and within a month had opened an eponymous IP firm in Ottawa. It started in a home office with a handful of clients. That practice went on to a WTR1000 ranking as a Canadian trademark prosecution firm, WBE Canada certification as a Women Business Enterprise, and a place as an Amazon IP Accelerator firm. Having built a firm from scratch, Clancy now brings a founder's view to start-ups and smaller companies back at Gowling WLG.

A good share of Clancy's energy goes to the wider IP profession. Today that includes the vice presidency of AIPPI (Canada) and a seat on the Canadian Bar Association's Sections Subcommittee. Earlier roles include President of the Intellectual Property Institute of Canada, a director of the International Trademark Association and Canada's national delegate to ASIPI. Within IPIC, Clancy also served as board secretary and chaired its Indigenous IP Committee, its International Trademark Issues Committee and its Sole and Small Practice Network. In 2024 the Guangzhou Arbitration Commission selected Clancy as an arbitrator.

Clancy works in English, French and Spanish, and has Chilean roots. Teaching is a regular thread: there's the IPIC/McGill Understanding Trademarks course, a CIPO webinar given separately in English and French, and talks as far afield as Yokohama and Mexico City. Clancy is also a past director of SOS Children's Villages Canada and the Children's Aid Foundation of Ottawa.