Patent and Trade Mark Attorneys

The pursuit of value

Speaking of stories, you've probably heard the one about NASA's pen. Legend has it that in the 1960s, NASA spent millions designing a new pen for use in space, a pen that was lightweight, leakproof and capable of writing in zero gravity. Their Soviet counterparts simply smiled... and used a pencil.

It's apocryphal of course, but the story reminds us that common sense isn't quite as common as it ought to be. We are adept at balancing benefit against cost. When interpreting a client's needs, we always think of the pencil before reaching for the pen.

Intellectual property issues can be costly, and we never mislead clients about that - but value for money is a different thing entirely. As value lies at the heart of client satisfaction, it dominates our thinking. We don't just talk about value: we pursue it actively.

We have put special thought into our approach to billing. It is obvious that fair billing lies at the heart of the long-term client relationships we cherish. Less obviously, bad billing practices can corrode the spirit of a firm and its ability to work as a unit. That approach is unsustainable, and it isn't for us. Instead, we work to three key principles that we think prospective clients should know.