Patent law firms

Lawyer yesterday - lawyer today

Times are changing. In recent decades, people's attitudes toward law firms and lawyers have changed. In the past, patent attorneys were often perceived as aloof institutions who provided clients with legal expertise but had little human empathy to show.

Today, however, clients expect more than just factual legal advice. They expect their attorneys to listen to them, understand their concerns and work for their interests. In addition, they want individual advice and close cooperation with their patent attorney.

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The law firm in transition

This change in client attitudes has also led to an increase in service expectations. Clients now expect not only a quick and effective solution to their legal problems, but also a high quality of service and flexible customer-oriented support. This also includes clear and understandable communication, transparent pricing and a high degree of flexibility and accessibility.

Constant accessibility as an expectation

To meet these increased expectations, many patent and law firms have expanded and improved their service offerings in recent years. For example, they offer online appointment scheduling, flexible availability by phone or e-mail, and comprehensive support and advice from fixed contact persons.

The adjustment

Law firms must respond to this and align their offerings accordingly in order to remain successful in the long term.

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Patent and trademark law firms manage the balancing act between the old world in their role as guardians of official requirements and the new world in their role as service providers who not only implement official requirements but also provide their clients with a transparent view of their own portfolio with all the desired effects that transparency entails.

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Despite the ever-increasing expectations of the clientele in terms of response times to inquiries and, of course, the "packaging" of responses, the patent law firm must, of course, also be able to perform its actual activity, namely to be "the attorney for the client's portfolio" correctly and without error. This includes

• the complete observance of deadlines,
• the timely and error-free correspondence with the offices,
• the timely reports to the client,
• the profound technical and legal consulting services,
• the preparation of patent applications,
• the strategic considerations for some clients,
• the lively exchange with inventors directly or inventors of the clients,
• informing the clients,
• the monitoring of third-party protection rights,
• compliance with manifold formalities,
• the legal advice that should not be neglected,
• coordinating and recommending foreign representatives,
• the consideration of the current jurisdiction also and above all in terms of data management and since some time also still...
• ...Maintain client's software with direct input of patent attorney services into client's software via client cloud.

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What is left for the lawyer to reduce his workload?

Patent law firms should turn the tables. They should rely on a profound cloud solution and provide their clients, who do not yet have a professional software solution, with access to their own patent attorney software solution. This results in a beneficial solution for both sides: the client no longer asks questions that have already been answered, as he receives already transparently prepared data through direct access to his portfolio via the patent law firm cloud, and the patent law firm does not have to log into the umpteenth external client portal to duplicate already redundant data again, this time for the external client cloud.