APRL Clarifies Advertising Report Did Not “Slam” Current Ethics Rules

As reported last week, on June 22, 2015, following a two-year study, the Association of Professional Responsibility Lawyers (“APRL”) Board approved publication of the Report of APRL’s Lawyer Advertising Committee.  As explained on the APRL website, “The Report recommends extensive revisions to lawyer advertising rules so they are compatible with modern electronic means of communication. The […]

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Report Slams Ethics Rules on Attorney Advertising As “Outdated” And “Unworkable”

“It is long past time for rationality and uniformity to be brought to the regulation of lawyer advertising,” says the Association of Professional Responsibility Lawyers (APRL) in a comprehensive report released June 22, 2015.  The report, which was authored by the APRL’s Regulation of Lawyer Advertising Committee, is the culmination of a two-year study of the ABA Model Rules

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District Court Tells IP Firm “Don’t Ask Alice,”Confirms $8 Million Malpractice Award For Bungling Patent Application

A federal judge in New York rejected an intellectual property firm’s attempt to rely on the Supreme Court’s 2014 Alice decision as grounds to set aside a jury’s multi-million dollar verdict for mishandling a client’s patent application.  In denying post-trial motions, U.S. District Judge Pamela Chen ruled that Virginia law firm Antonelli Terry Sout & Kraus LLP forfeited

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Allowing Someone Else To Type In Your S-Signature On USPTO Documents Is Unethical

I still remember vividly today the very first time I signed a paper, as an attorney at law, for filing in court.  It was 22 years ago.  I remember being nervous. I practiced my signature on a scratch pad, wanting to get it just right, before finally putting ball point to paper.  The paper was of heavy bond,

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IP Litigators Beware: Bad News May Be Hazardous To Your Law License (Part 2 of 2)

Bad news on the doorstep.  I couldn’t take one more step.  Don McLean – American Pie In the last year, many “bad news” articles have been published arising from IP litigation. Not surprisingly, a growing number of those articles have been based on exceptional case findings and awards of attorneys’ fees under the Octane Fitness

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IP Litigators Beware: Bad News May Be Hazardous To Your Law License (Part 1 of 2)

Many years ago, before Al Gore invented the internet and teenagers rode their bicycles before dawn, their palms black with ink, to deliver “the paper,” science fiction novelist Douglas Adams observed, “Nothing travels faster than the speed of light with the possible exception of bad news, which obeys its own special laws.”  Truer words today could not be

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The Ethical Risks of Paraprofessionals Providing IP Legal Services (Part 2 of 2)

In this part, we continue to address some of the ethical risks involving delegation of intellectual property legal services to non-lawyer paraprofessionals. Ethical Responsibilities of Practitioners Regarding Paraprofessionals The USPTO ethics rules state the responsibilities of practitioners over non-practitioners as follows: First, a practitioner who is a partner, and a practitioner who individually or together with

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The Ethical Risks of Paraprofessionals Providing IP Legal Services (Part 1 of 2)

“Individual commitment to a group effort–that is what makes a team work, a company work, a society work, a civilization work.” –Vince Lombardi Every successful IP lawyer, whether a solo practitioner or a senior partner in a mega-firm, has one thing in common: a great support team of secretaries, legal assistants, technical advisors, and paralegals.

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