Posts Tagged: "Law Firms"

IP Law Firm Boult Wade Tennant announces the opening of its Berlin office. The new office location will further strengthen the firm’s presence in Europe, with their Madrid office having opened last year.

On January 27, more than 170 general counsel and corporate legal executives signed an open letter to big law firms expressing their disappointment that “many law firms continue to promote partner classes that in no way reflect the demographic composition of entering associate classes.” The letter states that the signatory companies will prioritize legal spend only on firms that commit to diversity and inclusion. Signed by chief legal officers across IP-intensive industries such as technology, retail, media, hospitality and financial services, the letter reiterates findings noted in a recent IPWatchdog webinar that indicate outside counsel need to do much better when it comes to fostering their corporate relationships. Companies including Google Fiber, Etsy, Heineken USA, Chobani Global Holdings, Waymo, Lyft, Vox Media, S&P Global Ratings and Booz Allen Hamilton are signatories.

Every year different groups provide rankings of patent prosecution law firms and a company’s patent count for the year.  Patent law firms will tout their rankings based upon the number of filings at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) or the number of allowances they obtained for clients over the previous year.  And companies will boast about their patent prowess based upon the size of their portfolios. But things are changing. Innovative algorithms and even diagnostic methods may be easier and more effectively protected by trade secret.  Trade secret protection avoids the uncertainty of compliance with the vague patentability standard set forth by the Supreme Court.

Kilpatrick Townsend & Stockton announced today the addition of Grace L. Pan to the firm’s New York City office as a partner on the firm’s internationally recognized Patent Litigation Team. Ms. Pan is a patent litigator and counselor representing clients from the U.S., Japan, Taiwan, and China.

We compiled a list of the top patent firms that are ranked based on the total number of U.S. utility patents that issued in 2017 where the patent firms were listed on the front of the utility patents. We have included only patent firms that have obtained at least 50 utility patents. We made an attempt to correct for typographical errors. We did not eliminate company legal departments from the list.

Law firm partners are no longer safe in their positions once they attain equity partnership.   That security is a thing of the past.   If you are a law firm partner, I provide below 7 questions that you can answer that will help you determine if you are about to be de-equitized. This article discusses how to determine whether you are at risk of losing your partnership interest and if so, some steps to strengthen your position.   My next article will give you ways to protect yourself should you be in a situation where your equity partnership share could be taken away.

Womble Carlyle continues to grow by expanding into Boston effective September 1. The office initially will provide intellectual property and other services to clients in pharmaceutical, biotechnology, life sciences, and related industries. Longtime Womble Carlyle IP partner and practice group leader Sarah Keefe will serve as Office Managing Partner.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has been a technology with promise for decades. The ability to manipulate huge volumes of data quickly and efficiently, identifying patterns and quickly analyzing the most optimal solution can be applied to thousands of day-to-day scenarios. However, it is set to come of age in the era of big data and real time decisions – where AI can provide solutions to age old issues and challenges.

Samar Shah, Esq. announces the launch of a new San Antonio based boutique law firm, Shah IP Law, PLLC.   The new law firm will concentrate on intellectual property counseling with an emphasis on patent portfolio development, patent prosecution, and other advanced prosecution strategies, such as appeals, reexaminations, and IPR proceedings.

Effective May 1, 2017, Fraser Clemens Martin & Miller LLC, a law firm that specializes in intellectual property and technology law, is joining the full-service business law firm Shumaker, Loop & Kendrick, LLP.

Berger Singerman is pleased to announce that intellectual property and commercial litigator Matthew S. Nelles has joined the firm as a partner on the Dispute Resolution Team. Nelles will continue to serve his worldwide and industrywide clients from Berger Singerman’s Fort Lauderdale office.

The breadth and scale of information now available to IP departments was previously unimaginable and using this information to drive insight remains challenging. The most progressive organizations will use insight from their own IP portfolio and the portfolio of others to drive the entire shape and direction of their business. The role of the future IP professional will be less about reactively protecting the innovation that a company creates, and more about using their unique insight to shape future product and service development, geographical expansion and even the future direction of research and development. In the four key phases of IP management – creation, protection, management and optimization – new technology, automation, data availability and collaboration are combining to shape IP management strategy.

On January 17, 2017, Orrick announced the admission of 18 lawyers to the firm’s partnership, effective January 1, 2017. Of the 18 new partners, 3 of them focus on Intellectual Property matters: Alyssa Caridis, Jordan Coyle and Catherine Lui.