Patent law firms

Lawyer yesterday - Lawyer today

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

Today, however, clients expect more than just objective legal advice. They expect their lawyers to listen to them, understand their concerns, and advocate for their interests. They also want personalized 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 resolution of their legal problems, but also high-quality service and flexible, customer-focused support. This includes clear and understandable communication, transparent pricing, and a high degree of flexibility and accessibility.

Constant availability 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 email, and comprehensive support and advice from dedicated 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 give their clients a transparent view of their own portfolio with all the desired effects that transparency brings.

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Despite the ever-increasing expectations of clients regarding response times to inquiries and, of course, the "packaging" of answers, the patent law firm must also be able to correctly and accurately perform its actual task, namely to be the "lawyer of the client's portfolio." This includes

• the complete compliance with deadlines,
• timely and error-free correspondence with the authorities,
• timely reports to clients,
• the in-depth technical and legal advice,
• preparing patent applications,
• the strategic considerations for some clients,
• the lively exchange with inventors directly or with inventors of clients,
• informing clients,
• the monitoring of third-party intellectual property rights,
• compliance with various formalities,
• the not insignificant legal advice,
• coordinating and recommending foreign representatives,
• taking into account current case law, especially with regard to data storage, and for some time now also...
• ...maintenance of client software with direct input of patent attorney services into the client software via the client cloud.

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What can a lawyer do to reduce his workload?

Patent law firms should turn the tables. They should implement a comprehensive cloud solution and provide their clients who don't yet have a professional software solution with access to their own patent law software solution. This creates a win-win situation for both parties: the client no longer asks questions that have already been answered, as they receive transparently prepared data through direct access to their portfolio via the patent law firm's cloud, and the patent law firm doesn't have to log into multiple external client portals to duplicate already redundant data again, this time for the external client cloud.