Patent Law

"It's a sign of the times"

By Lawrence B. Ebert, Esq.

And a year ago I never could have seen it

IPBiz notes the following from a press release by the law firm of Gardner Groff Greenwald & Villanueva, P.C.:

In January 2009, the firm will take the following steps:

? Fee Reduction. Gardner Groff has a tradition of flexible and innovative alternative fee arrangements. Instead of billing only by the hour, the firm handles many projects on a flat fee basis, and the firm?s 2009 flat fee schedule will be reduced by as much as 12% compared to 2008. ?Because we typically staff our projects with more experienced lawyers, we expect the effect of the flat fee reduction on firm revenues will be somewhat offset by increased efficiencies,? said Gardner.

? Rate Freeze. The firm?s 2009 hourly rates will not increase over 2008 rates. Gardner emphasized, ?This is a complete freeze?there will be no annual advance for a lawyers? additional year?s experience, and no overall rate structure escalation.? (Other firms often will use January as the point where rates will be raised individually as each of their lawyers advance up a firm?s tiered rate structure ? ?the ladder? ? with each additional year of experience costing clients more. That means a 2008 sixth-year associate becomes a seventh-year junior partner in 2009 and, thus, has a higher hourly rate. Other firms will also typically raise their overall rate structure annually.)

Given that Gardner Groff?s rates were already about 20% below the Atlanta market average, many of the firm?s clients may see additional savings of anywhere from 3% to 12% across the board over the course of 2009, for the same top-quality intellectual property services.

?These adjustments may allow a client to stretch their budget further and file several more patent applications, which could be the difference between moving forward with profitable innovations or stagnating. Gardner Groff is committed to helping its clients succeed and not restraining them from protecting their intellectual property simply because their legal budgets are stressed."

****In a different direction

IPBiz found a website offering for sale term papers on the battle of Gettysburg.

Full post as published by IPBiz on November 28, 2008 (boomark / email).