21st Open Forum
London, England
4-7 October 2023
Leadership and Organisation or
‘Management 101:
Taking command of your IP firm’
victoria
STRENGTHENING THE PRACTICE OF THE INDEPENDENT IP ATTORNEY
www.ficpi.org
21st Open Forum
London, England
4-7 October 2023
Introduction
Christoph Vaagt
Managing Partner, Law Firm Change Consultants, Germany
victoria
STRENGTHENING THE PRACTICE OF THE INDEPENDENT IP ATTORNEY
www.ficpi.org
21st Open Forum
London, England
4-7 October 2023
Bryan Gallo
STRENGTHENING THE PRACTICE OF THE INDEPENDENT IP ATTORNEY
www.ficpi.org
Ivan Ahlert
Micheline K. Johnson
Christoph H. Vaagt
21st Open Forum
London, England
4-7 October 2023
Introduction
•
Management is increasingly crucial in the competition:
decision making structures
and processes
are the most important part of this process in partnership settings
•
Effective management is about
managing people against numbers (KPIs):
economic
output is increasingly important in the competition for talent and to be able to invest
•
Process management/streamlining and modern IP law firm software
are key to have
operational effectiveness: this is a challenge for law firm organisations
•
Skills of people are key: investment in skills, in particular
project management and
people skills
are key for resilient organisations
•
All this points to the fact that
Change management
abilities in law firm management
is becoming a key skill for law firm leadership; this is contradicted by the “political
nature of being elected by its peers”; this is the biggest systemic challenge for law
firms
STRENGTHENING THE PRACTICE OF THE INDEPENDENT IP ATTORNEY
www.ficpi.org
21st Open Forum
London, England
4-7 October 2023
Management of the very large firm
Micheline K. Johnson
Taylor English, USA
victoria
STRENGTHENING THE PRACTICE OF THE INDEPENDENT IP ATTORNEY
www.ficpi.org
21st Open Forum
London, England
4-7 October 2023
Taylor English Duma LLP (“TED”)
•
TED delivers excellent lawyers,
high efficiency, and cost
certainty so as to align with
client business needs. Resources
are focused on client work, not
corporate overhead.
•
160 Attorneys
•
119 Partners
•
5 Equity Partners
•
23 Offices in 15 States
STRENGTHENING THE PRACTICE OF THE INDEPENDENT IP ATTORNEY
www.ficpi.org
•
Decision-Making Powers
•
Entire Partnership
•
Dedicated Sub-Committees
•
Managing Partner
•
Processes and Standards
•
How well respected?
•
Motivation for compliance
•
Enforcement measures
21st Open Forum
London, England
4-7 October 2023
Management of the very large firm
Ivan Ahlert
Partner, Dannemann Siemsen, Brazil
victoria
STRENGTHENING THE PRACTICE OF THE INDEPENDENT IP ATTORNEY
www.ficpi.org
21st Open Forum
London, England
4-7 October 2023
Dannemann Siemsen
•
Dannemann Siemsen
has been operating for 123 years and is the largest IP
firm in Latin America. In 2022 alone, we had more than 5,000 patent filings.
Our primary focus is on IP, but we also provide comprehensive legal services
in corporate, business, tax, consumer and environmental law, data
protection, and more.
•
Staff & Partners:
•
Total Staff
: 850
•
Intellectual Property: 500
•
Legal Services: 350
•
Partners:
•
IP Agency: 30 income partners, 41 patent attorneys (12 senior, 29 junior), 20
trademark attorneys (13 senior, 7 junior)
•
Legal Services: 10 income partners
•
Board
: Consists of 8 equity partners, and I currently serve as the President.
STRENGTHENING THE PRACTICE OF THE INDEPENDENT IP ATTORNEY
www.ficpi.org
21st Open Forum
London, England
4-7 October 2023
Management of a mid size firm
Bryan Gallo
Partner, Pearne & Gordon, USA
victoria
STRENGTHENING THE PRACTICE OF THE INDEPENDENT IP ATTORNEY
www.ficpi.org
21st Open Forum
London, England
4-7 October 2023
Pearne & Gordon – Management
Structure
STRENGTHENING THE PRACTICE OF THE INDEPENDENT IP ATTORNEY
www.ficpi.org
23 Attorneys
•
19 total Partners
•
14 Partners are owners with voting rights for firm management issues
•
Each Partner is responsible for their own book of business and client debt
Firm Management Committee
• 5 Partners (owners), elected annually
• Meets monthly to handle day-to-day operations
• Sets agenda for Partnership Meetings
•
Cannot
do the following:
• Annual raises / partnership compensation
• Termination of staff
• New expenditures in excess of $25,000
• Litigation on behalf of the firm
Majority vote at Partnership meetings
• Meetings quarterly (sometimes monthly)
• Annual full day meeting for firm-wide strategic
initiatives
• Any Partner may raise an item for discussion
• Items are discussed and then voted on, most items
require only a majority vote to pass
• Various Partners are responsible for overseeing and
management of major departments (accounting,
docketing, IT)
21st Open Forum
London, England
4-7 October 2023
Questions for the audience
Please, sit together in small groups of 3-5 and discuss:
1. How have we organised ourselves internally in terms of decision-
making powers; What is our next step?
2. On a scale of 1-10, how well respected are our processes and
standards? (1: very little; 10: nearly perfect)
3. What is our main challenge at home which I take from this lesson?
•
STRENGTHENING THE PRACTICE OF THE INDEPENDENT IP ATTORNEY
www.ficpi.org
21st Open Forum
London, England
4-7 October 2023
STRENGTHENING THE PRACTICE OF THE INDEPENDENT IP ATTORNEY
www.ficpi.org