As illustrated, Bauz IP Law efficiently delivers high quality IP services. Those services include In-House IP Counseling, Patent Portfolio Analysis and IP Litigation & IPRs.
See also, below, some FAQs about our services.
Our Value Proposition
We eliminated billable hour quotas.
Quotas are designed to increase profits, not quality. The more each and every attorney individually bills, the greater the revenue. This impacts the clients’ cost.
The American Bar Association Journal noted that 21% of attorneys round up their hourly entries to the next hour or half hour and 51% of lawyers charge a full six-minute time increment for miniscule tasks like a quick phone call or email.
There are, in rare circumstances, billing practices such as “double billing.” Free of quotas, our focus is on excellence.
We minimized overhead.
- Corporations use engagement agreements with their law firms. We use engagement agreements with our team members, not employment agreements. Hence, we do not need to recover the expenses for U.S. employment benefits and regulations.
- We will lease functional space, but only if a client requires it. Hence, our clients do not absorb the yearly overhead associated with fancy law offices.
- We use interpreters, not expensive lawyers, to communicate with our foreign clients. The interpreters routinely handle sensitive business information in depositions and hearings. We trust them as do countless companies.
We eliminated internal profit centers.
For decades, traditional law firms have embraced ways to increase revenue through ancillary services. These are called internal profit centers. Today, market pressures on hourly rates have given rise to more internal profit centers, such as charging for database hosting or “paraprofessionals” who handle administrative tasks.
When our clients need specialized IP support, such as paralegals, experts, database hosting, administrators and ESI resources, we engage reputable U.S. companies like Inventus. These companies are trusted by Fortune 500 corporations and they are more cost-effective than law firm profit centers. We add their bill to ours for simplicity and there are no markups.
Our bills make sense.
Clients praise us for our billing format. The billing statements are straightforward and comprehendible. We only bill for attorney time. We pass through expenses from our team without markups, and that simplifies bills for our clients. Alternative fee arrangements are available because our platform is customized, streamlined and efficient.
Bauz IP Law Services in Detail
In-House IP Counseling
For a twelve-month term, Thane served as in-house IP counsel to The Boeing Company. He understands the challenges corporate leaders face every day. When his in-house experience is combined with twenty-five years in global law firms and Bauz IP Law’s analytics, Thane is an exceptional resource. He guides companies on IP capture, less costly litigation strategies, transactional issues, and the selection and management of outside counsel. He also serves as “shadow counsel” for the in-house legal team.
From 2017 to 2019, the success rate of defendants’ motions for summary judgment on either non-infringement or patent invalidity was less than 25%. Thane sheds light on what filings make sense in light of the circumstances. Thane was lead trial counsel when Judge Koh yelled at another attorney “[y]ou want me to do an order on 75 pages, unless you’re [abusing drugs], you know these witnesses aren’t going to be called …”
In response to a motion, Judge Gilmore wrote “[w]hat is wrong with you parties/lawyers? Just STOP IT!” In another instance, a company paid an expensive law firm to prepare sixty invalidity charts when the judge only allowed six. These examples alone cost millions of dollars. Having worked as in-house and outside counsel, Thane knows how to improve quality and reduce cost.
Aside from conserving precious resources, Bauz IP Law’s analytics helps Thane secure stronger IP assets, mitigate risk and resolve disputes.
Patent Portfolio Analysis
Throughout his career, Thane helped companies strengthen their IP position. For example, Thane helped manage sixteen thousand IP assets. Under his guidance, his team identified numerous IP “gems” including a portfolio certified by accountants at $500M. He also handled due diligence for large corporate clients interested in purchasing or selling IP assets. He negotiated the sale of a patent portfolio for $33M. Rather than having an expensive team of attorneys bill the company, Bauz IP Law licenses the best tools available for portfolio analysis.
IP Litigation & IPRs
Bauz IP Law has proven to be extremely effective on IP litigation-related matters. We have taken cases as far as the pre-trial hearing before settling the case. While every case is factually distinct, we have prevailed every motion in limine, motion for protective order, and motion to compel. Our skill set and analytics help.
98% percent of patent litigation cases settle prior to trial. Should the client want to use a traditional law firm prior to trial, Thane can transition the litigation matter to a traditional law firm and manage that law firm. During his career, he managed litigation teams as large as twenty professionals in three offices.
In traditional law firms, Thane was co-lead trial counsel on several competitor cases where $1B was at stake. In one such case, he successfully obtained a rare “clean sweep,” winning every single issue at trial and on appeal. He is especially adept at settling cases, often for a fraction of the demand. Thane wants to keep his clients out of the courtroom, but when the other side is unreasonable, he works hard to win.
Frequently Asked Questions About our IP Law Services
Does Bauz IP Law employ associate attorneys?
No. We do not have the rank-and-file pyramid structure of traditional law firms. That system is inefficient and was designed to increase firm revenue. It is one of many reasons our clients pay less.
Who are the Bauz IP Law team members?
We have working relationships with well-known and experienced team members. Our clients approve the team in advance. Our team members’ bills are passed through to our clients without markup. For services like paralegals, ESI and database hosting, we use U.S. companies like Inventus that are trusted by Fortune 500 companies.
Is Bauz IP Law a virtual law firm?
No. A virtual law firm has an independent entity that passes work to a network of attorneys. The central entity typically charges a fee to the network participants and does not regulate quality. Like a traditional law firm, our work comes directly from our clients. Our clients pre-approve any Bauz IP Law team members.
Does Bauz IP Law do work for non-producing entities?
No. We exclusively work for producing entities.
Does Bauz IP Law have employees?
No. A company has an engagement agreement with its law firms. We have engagement agreements with experienced professionals. By avoiding employment agreements, which are highly regulated and costly, we increase efficiency and decrease cost. Unlike a traditional law platform, only pre-approved team members can review client information on a “as needed” basis.
Why do our team members care about our clients?
We directly oversee the work of our team members. They are paid by the client to do good work. When a company stops using its law firms because it does not meet high standards, we stop using our team members if they do not meet our clients’ high standards.
What happens if a Bauz IP Law team member is too busy to help?
Clients rarely appreciate how work is assigned to associates in traditional law firms. The associates take on many assignments from different partners on behalf of different clients to meet or exceed annual quotas. Our team members do not have quotas. They have time to help.
What happens if a Bauz IP Law team member stops working on the matter?
In such cases, it is no different than when a partner or associate leaves a law firm. Access to our system is immediately terminated and all their passwords are deleted. Like the engagement agreement a company has with a law firm, our agreements with team members obligate them to delete all data on their computer or storage.
It is true that attorneys in law firms must leave their computers at the firm.
However, flash drives today make that distinction meaningless. Regardless, in both instances the lawyers have violated legal and ethical obligations and may be prosecuted.
Should a corporation ever use a traditional law firm?
Yes. We believe that the high cost of traditional law firms is justified in select circumstances, such as when matters are being monitored by investors or governmental agencies and need a large law firm. We believe those circumstances occur less frequently and that corporations overuse expensive, large law firms.
Why do companies use traditional law firms?
We have encountered numerous explanations from our corporate contacts, none of which stands up to reason. To the extent they want to use more traditional platforms, we still believe that companies can benefit from “shadow counsel” services to identify unnecessary work, improve efficiency and reduce cost.
Does Bauz IP Law have e-security and confidentiality measures?
Yes. We use the best security measures Microsoft offers, including encryption. We do not have client-server architectures like almost all large law firms. We believe those architectures are easier to breach. All team members use our encrypted systems and firewalls created by Microsoft only restricts their access to pre-approved projects.
Does the lack of a formal office space create team inefficiencies?
No. We use Microsoft Teams for live meetings. If the need arises, Bauz IP Law leases office space on an “as needed” basis. In this way, clients only pay for what they use.
Why do traditional law firms use client-server architectures rather than cloud-based solutions?
The answer is cost. The client-server architectures evolved slowly over time. It would be cost prohibitive for law firms to simply abandon their capital investment and migrate data to the cloud.
Will Bauz IP Law travel expenses be lower than a traditional law firm?
Yes. We use travel websites to book the lowest cost travel arrangements. Attorneys in law firms are typically members of reward programs, such as Starwood Preferred or United MileagePlus. Lawyers who are members of reward programs receive personal benefits like free flights, travel perks and upgrades. Their clients however do not receive any benefit and pay more.
Interested? Get in touch
Please contact Bauz IP Law if you’re considering patent portfolio analysis for your business. Telephone 858.987.4028 or fill in our online contact form.
