C+L’s patent practice primarily focuses on two areas. First, we have considerable expertise relating to biotech inventions, including those involving pharmacology, vaccines, gene therapy, stem cells, diagnostics, immunology, medical devices, plant biology, biofuels, bioagriculture, pharmaceuticals, nutraceuticals, biosynthetics, bioengineering, pharmacogenomics, bioinformatics, nanotechnology, and personalized medicine. We are often invited to be featured speakers and lecturers on cutting-edge biotech patent issues at conferences and seminars. Second, we have expertise in a number of engineering areas, including aerospace mechanisms and structures, control and communication systems, semiconductor and MEMS devices, fabrication and computer hardware, and software.
We have technical degrees in biology, physiology, biochemistry, molecular biology, and engineering. Although we have extensive R&D experience in the pharmaceutical, biotech, and aerospace industries, we are lawyers first and use our legal expertise to help our clients — the inventors, universities, and companies — attain their goals by protecting and enforcing their intellectual property rights.
C+L in the IP Space
C+L does not have interns as a substitute for attorneys, trainees, junior attorneys, large paper libraries, or the many personnel groups carried as overhead by large and multi-international law firms. At C+L, substantive legal work is done directly by a senior attorney. We leverage technology to minimize the need for administrative and secretarial staff. The cost savings afforded by C+L’s lean staffing allows us to deliver IP legal services at billing rates considerably lower than those charged by other firms for attorneys with comparable experience and expertise.
A few key advantages C+L has over other law firms include:
+ Partner-Level Work at Associate-Level Rates
C+L’s attorneys have experience and expertise that were honed at large firms, and all of our attorneys have been partners at other firms. None of our attorneys has less than 20 years of IP legal practice. We provide partner-level work. We do not have junior associates, so our clients do not, directly or indirectly, bear the costs of training junior attorneys or reviewing and revising their work. Thus, we provide high quality partner-level work at rates comparable to rates that large firms charge for their associates.
+ No Double-Billing and No Delays for Review
Unless requested by clients, only one attorney works on a given client case. Consequently, our clients are not “double billed” by having multiple attorneys, e.g., a junior and a senior attorney, work on one project. There is no layering of partners and associates. Clients interact directly with the senior attorney who does the actual preparation and prosecution work. This means there is no delay while waiting for partner review and approval of associate work.
+ Deep Experience in Serving Research Institutions
C+L attorneys collectively have over 60 years of experience representing academic and research institutions. We understand that universities pursue patents for different reasons, and that not all cases require the same prosecution strategy or investment, so we offer different tiers of service for different situations. We can work with clients who prefer to defer costs to later stages of prosecution to optimize viability of yet-to-be-licensed cases, and we can scale up the aggressiveness of our prosecution strategy when appropriate.
+ In-House Experience
Before entering private practice, Karen worked in the technology transfer office of the University of Washington. Our paralegal, Jane, was a patent prosecution specialist at the Office of Intellectual Property of the University of California, Los Angeles. In addition to his extensive experience working with large aerospace companies, Brad worked in-house in the legal department of a large company. Having been in-house counsel and clients of IP firms ourselves before entering private practice, we understand, and avoid, the things that frustrate clients about working with outside counsel.
+ Leadership Roles in Major IP Organizations
Karen and Suzannah have held leadership roles in the American Intellectual Property Law Association (AIPLA). Karen is a former member of the Board of Directors and Suzannah is a past Chair of AIPLA’s Biotechnology Committee. Karen has served on the Advisory Board to the Center for Advanced Study and Research on Intellectual Property (CASRIP) of the University of Washington School of Law, and Suzannah has served as an ACI Expert Speaker for the American Conference Institute. Our involvement in AIPLA, CASRIP, ACI, and other organizations keeps us informed of the latest developments in IP.
+ We Build Long-Lasting Relationships
C+L attorneys have built long-lasting relationships with their clients. For example, Suzannah and Karen have represented the University of California — including multiple UC campuses and the central office in Oakland — throughout their careers. Suzannah has represented the University of California and the U.S. Army Medical Research and Materiel Command since the beginning of her career, and Karen has represented the University of Washington since 1998.