IP Practice Management

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The role of FICPI’s Practice Management Committee (“PMC”) is to provide guidance, tips and news on topics related to how intellectual property attorneys do business as IP firms or sole practitioners.

PMC is organised into five working groups, each focused on a key topic:

Human Resources
Business Development and Marketing
Governance, Risk and Compliance
Technology
Finance

Each of the groups supports all FICPI members in the development of their IP practices by:

Providing information and guidance to FICPI members about practice management; to support firms in their everyday business life and development.
Taking the lead in matters of continuing professional education, the promotion of standards and best practices and the profession as a business.Identifying trends in the profession and IP marketplace as well as challenges in the profession and offering targeted advice.
Dealing with practical issues relating to IP asset management, IP valuation, litigation insurance and the like.

PMC is currently studying the following issues of relevance to the profession:

Pricing Survey - a survey was circulated to all members - the results of this survey were presented at the 22nd Open Forum in Madrid.
The influence of AI - a survey was circulated to all members - the results were reported on at the 22nd Open Forum in Madrid.
General Correspondence - preferences and opinions on how members address a recipient when sending (or receiving) general correspondence - the results of the survey are reported below
Profit generation in IP firms – with the results of a major study were shared at the 21st Open Forum in London, October 2023 - the results of the survey are reported below
Reaction against the new competition from service providers (BRACE)
Pricing methods and fee structure
IP valuation - The FICPI Journal, Nov 2022; 1: 4-20 contains a powerful article on IP valuation
IP practice management benchmarking questionnaire
Best practices when automating workflow in an IP firm

LATEST PRACTICE MANAGEMENT ARTICLES

Performance and price setting feature in Open Forum PMC stream

Posted By

Anne Lévy

09 Dec 2024

The hidden drivers of performance, the secrets of price setting, tips for IP valuation, discussions on supporting clients’ innovation, and exploring the benefits AI can bring to the management of IP firms, featured in the Practice Management section of the 2024 FICPI Open Forum.

How best to address your clients? PMC investigates salutations

Posted By

Eduardo Cezar de Andrade de Mello e Souza

06 Nov 2024

The way we address our clients can affect their perception of our firms and services. To help guide FICPI members on this issue, FICPI’s Practice Management Committee (PMC) surveyed FICPI members, to gather their preferences and opinions.

Profitability initiatives headline strong year start for PMC

Posted By

Anne Lévy

15 Aug 2024

The Practice Management Committee (PMC) has created multiple opportunities this year for members of FICPI’s global community to explore the challenges and opportunities on the hot topic of profitability – and there is more to come in the 2nd half of the year.

Handshake — Image by lokalsportessen from Pixabay

The Practice Management Committee (PMC) of FICPI conducted a survey recently about how we prefer greeting when sending General Correspondence, when you cannot know in advance the name, gender or status of the person you are writing to.

The number of responses to this survey is quite satisfying since more than 160 responses have been received.

The general trend is unquestionably ‘Dear colleagues’ followed by “Dear Sir/Madam”. These are also preferred across geographies.

“Hi” and “Hello” are more acceptable in the US/Canada and Australia/NZ which are usually thought of as informal.

PMC Guides

How best to address your clients

Download Guide

Choosing the right leadership in a law firm

Download Guide

Guidelines for Engagement Letters

Download Guide

IP Valuation

Download Guide

Book Club

Win-Win Pricing for Law Firms

Posted By

Anne Lévy

24 Nov 2024

"Win-Win Pricing for Law Firms" by Norman K. Clark explores how law firms can balance profitability with client satisfaction in a highly price-sensitive legal market. The book introduces the concept of Win-Win Pricing, a strategy focused on transparency, value alignment, and sustainable profitability, moving beyond traditional models like hourly billing or fixed fees.

Greetings and Salutations

Posted By

Anne Lévy

05 Nov 2024

Technology

How do you address someone when you cannot know in advance the name, gender or status of the person you are writing to.

Artificial Intelligence – use of emerging AI in patents

Posted By

Vikrant Rana

09 Jul 2023

Technology

ChatGPT. DALL·E 2. These are two names, amongst many others, which are at the tips of everyone’s tongues these last few months, and rightly so, with the immense potential shown by the numerous disruptive developments in the realm of Artificial Intelligence. Such AI has shown the masses an entirely new way of how to interact with the digital world, and how to extract results.