In what Bloomberg Business has termed a “wake-up call,” a national litigation law firm last month decided to spin off into a separate firm nearly 100 lawyers who had devoted their practice to patent prosecution. The reasons given included the need for the patent prosecutors to function in a nimble platform unburdened by the high overhead cost of litigation firms such as around the clock staffing and fancy conference rooms. See links: ) https://bol.bna.com/wake-up-call-ropes-gray-to-spin-off-patent-practice/ and https://bol.bna.com/ropes-gray-spins-off-patent-team-highlights-challenges/
Here at MWZB, we have always been “awake” – and have always known that efficiency and costs are an important concern of our clients. We also have always understood that of equal importance is the delivery of strong, broad patents that provide value. One way that we do this is by providing an unparalleled level of experience. At MWZB, each of our attorneys has been in the field of patent prosecution for many years, averaging 25 years of experience. Several of us have been patent examiners and in-house corporate patent counsel. We are not an organization that relies on inexperienced, junior members to perform work at low rates as”efficiency” – for we understand that efficiency without value is truly not efficiency at all. Our highly experienced attorneys are familiar with the legal issues that arise in prosecution of patents because we’ve seen them multiple times in obtaining patents. Our attorneys have taught about the issues in law school and have counselled our clients on those issues as they have arisen in the preparation of validity and infringement opinions. At MWZB, we leverage our experience to provide cost-effective prosecution which results in strong patents.