Does Your IP Law Firm Require Associates to Bill 2000 Hours? If So, Watch Out!

Joseph Hosteny… have you heard of him?

Mr. Hosteny regularly publishes articles in the Litigator’s Corner section of Intellectual Property Today magazine. I am a fan of Mr. Hosteny because his articles go right to the point and do not mince words, which has probably made him the enemy of many IP lawyers.

In the December 2006 issue Mr. Hosteny published an article titled Mega-Firms: The Mega-Headache. It would be a disservice to my readers if I tried to summarize the 2 page article, therefore let me just say that it should be an eye opener for all those on the corporate IP side of things.

I don’t know if the practices highlighted in the article are becoming more common, or just more widely publicized. However, I have witnessed lawyer overstaffing to such a ridiculous extent that I actually looked in my 401(k) accounts to see if I owned any stock of the company represented by the over-lawyering law firm. Fortunately, I did not.

Another excellent article on the subject was recently published in the Chicago Tribune.

Thankfully I know that the readers of this blog are all smart enough not to let this happen to them.