Happy New Year to you all. Â In this first post of 2014, I’m pleased to report that the new year brings a major change for me professionally.
I am very excited to announce that I have started my own firm called Green Patent Law (GPL).  A boutique intellectual property firm, GPL will represent my vision of what IP counseling should be and how a law firm should serve its clients:  each and every client gets individual attention, honest advice, exceptional service, and maximum value.
My goal is to provide the best possible advice and counsel by learning as much about each client’s business as possible and treating the attorney-client relationship as a collaboration. The result will be an individualized intellectual property strategy for each client that aligns with its business strategy and achieves the best possible protection for the client’s IP assets.
While the firm represents clients in a wide array of technology areas, I will of course bring to GPL my expertise in issues at the intersection of IP law and green technology. Â To my knowledge, GPL is the only small law firm in the United States with a special emphasis on IP in the clean tech industry.
I think GPL’s value philosophy is also unique, with a focus on value to the client rather than hourly rates. Â This value-driven approach represents a philosophical departure from the billable hour orthodoxy of most large law firms.
Specifically, I believe the time has come to apply the concept of frugal innovation to law practice.  Frugal innovation is the art of substantially reducing the cost of products or services while also delivering good value.  GPL’s frugal innovation takes the form of internal efficiency measures and low overhead, which result in savings I pass along to my clients.
More radically, GPL will largely replace IP services billed by the hour with a line of IP “products†delivered on a project billing basis, such as a filed patent or trademark application, a filed response to an office action, a patent search report, or a freedom to operate opinion.
I believe this value philosophy is consistent with the new legal services environment and the changing paradigm in attorney-client relationships that has been emerging in the last several years.
My hope is that these offerings, centering around value to the client rather than hourly rates, will make GPL a go-to law practice for innovative, cost-conscious businesses that appreciate the importance of intellectual property to their growth and prosperity.
Whether in green technologies or other innovative fields, the clients of GPL will gain a long term partner in their IP attorney, one that understands their business goals as well as their financial and market constraints and comes up with a comprehensive, cost-effective solution to meet their needs.
My green patent shingle is up, and I look forward to working with you!
