I've only been a patent attorney for a few months, and I'm already getting several clients both in patent and trademark. I was wondering if anyone has any fee suggestions? I am not familiar with a fee structure for this kind of work yet. My clients so far are looking for research related to their ideas. Most are complex. Thanks so much for your help!

Not having luck finding a relationship or having any guys interested in me for 28 years. Thinking about resorting to plastic surgery to increase my chances of finding somebody

I joined EY in January. Had no work all of January, but was busy for February and some of March. I have been unassigned for about 4 weeks now, sending availability emails to all of the service lines we are allowed to reach out to for work. I should not have come here 🤦🏼‍♂️ I know it’s nice to have some down-time, but when every day is staring at a computer, the days are SO long.

Transitioning from line of business familiarity (understanding financial statements) to... real(?) Finance (bonds and cap markets and other debt sales) any advice on books or resources to learn really from step 0?

Heyy, I am looking for flatmates in ZS. I live in Gurgaon. If anyone is looking for a flatmate for 3-4 BHK let me know…….

Hi there -
I applied to an experienced consultant position at Bain and just heard back. Yesterday, I received an invite to a HireVue one-way interview to complete. Today, I received an invite for a coffee chat with a consultant. I’m of course going to do both, but the emails make it seem like they are almost two separate paths/disconnected processes. Can anybody offer some insight into each of these/the process?

Hi, I work for a non-profit and we hire nationwide for 2 positions as well as locally for numerous positions. I’m looking for recommendations, reviews and any advice for online job boards. We use Indeed, Glassdoor, Craigslist, just got back into Zip Recruiter and working on getting LinkedIn up and running. Any help is appreciated.

Anyone here in EY USA and can point me to the maternity policy? I can only find Canadian or UK versions ok the policy site!

Does McCann Minneapolis have a creative team?

Anyone want to aspire and get their real estate licenses together for a side hustle?

Anyone with Jamf certificates ? Is there any scope and opportunity for one who completed this course...

A friend of mine and I are both starting our life firms from scratch. We both do two different areas of law. How can we help each other with referrals and networking? We live in an area that’s pretty geographically large in two different parts of town.

Hi, I was promoted to Associate in March. Am I eligible for October annual hike?

Where can you buy a good office chair and sit/stand desk near Toronto? Getting them shipped from the US is mad expensive.

Can anyone recommend a book I can get lost in? Escapism, something to take my mind off of things.

Is there a legal or corporate law team in KPMG or other big 4s where they hire LLBs or Company secretaries? KPMG Deloitte EY PwC KGS

I feel like my boss is sexist and unfair. I've worked here for three years and he's never once given me a raise. He told me once that women aren't good at sales. What do I do?

Does anyone know whether Deloitte would help to obtain LMIA when your work permit/visa is about to expire? I’m at the junior level and not eligible for any streams yet.

Just curious: how much time would you bill for on prepping instructions to a FA for a response? Feel free to break down by how long you’ve been practicing, complexity, or any other factor you think is relevant.

What do y’all use to draw informal figures? I currently use powerpoint but am curious if there are more efficient ways. What have you found most efficient/convenient?

Any recommendations for a document management system that automatically saves emails into the proper folders?

Any recommendations for patent prosecution practice management software for a small firm? Currently not using anything and want to be able to better manage and monitor associates.

If a client asks law firm A to transfer a couple of patent prosecution cases to law firm B, does law firm A need to deliver all relevant documents to law firm B? Can law firm B just submit POA and access all the files via Private Pair? Thank you

First year associate thinking about making the just from medium sized reputable IP firm to In House. Started at said firm summer of 1L year as a law clerk/patent agent in May 2019, have worked through school and full time as associate since Sept 2021. Feeling very “stuck” in day to day work. Love the patent/IP space but drafting and pros w/minimal human interaction is getting very difficult. Thinking In House would be better, but not sure how much experience needed. Thoughts?

I am working on a NFOA for a design case. The Examiner identified a primary references and four secondary references. The Examiner also pointed out five differences between the primary reference and the claimed design. For the reply, I found nine additional differences between the claimed design and the primary reference, two of which are not present in any of the cited references. Should I clarify the level of a designer having ordinary skill in the art first? Complex/Expensive article. TY!

Would patent folks out there use software that digitizes an office action? That is, the UI will link to all the cited art in the office action and will highlight cited paragraphs of the art.

Any good recommendations for patent industry magazines with regular print editions? too much of my keeping up to date is by blogs.

Prosecution associates - what are your hours looking like this year?

I do prosecution and am looking to lateral. Does anyone have recommendations on firms to consider, or ones to avoid? I’m flexible on location.

I’m looking for a tool that allows me to search for text in Office Actions and responses. For example, is there a way to search for ‘written description’ or ‘improper Markush’ issued by Examiner John Smith? Does something like this exist?

Does anyone’s practice also include patent lit? I’m thinking of switching from prosecution to litigation (my firm has separate lit and pros practice groups). If you practice patent lit, is there anything that you dislike about it/anything you wish you would have known earlier?

What do hiring partners (or HR in in-house) generally think about a lateral that are in the middle of a part-time MS degree program (STEM MS program)?

What would you say the going rates are for (i) non provisional application drafting and (ii) office action responses?

How many billable hours do people in prosecution tend to average each month? I’ve gone through waves of feeling like my billable hours requirement is reasonable to feeling like I’m drowning and can’t possibly do it for that long.

Where the best way to process POA for a large number of patent applications?

Is it to get a form 82 signed and attach it to different transmittals for each application and file separately in each case? Is there an easier way?

What do folks find most frustrating about patent prosecution? Drafting, OAs, client relations, other?

For me, I dislike drafting the spec to explicitly recite the basic things it does, eg, server talks to client to do <basic action>.

Has anyone on here ever requested redaction of a filed application? I'm looking to redact a few paragraphs of a provisional application.

What are the pros and cons of the following IP boutique firms: Finnegan, Fish, Banner Witcoff, Oblon, Knobbe?