Am I a Good Patent Lawyer?

I am a patent lawyer, but how do you know if I am a good patent lawyer? I think the answer to that basic question has an easy part and a hard part.

The easy part is that being a good lawyer means being a good service provider. And it is easy to recognize the difference between good service and bad. Being a good lawyer starts with being aware of the client’s business challenges and goals, and having frequent thoughtful discussions with the client about where patents fit in that setting. It also means being responsive to client communications and providing clear timely answers to client questions. I think of all this as the equivalent of what you would expect when dining at a three star restaurant.

The hard part of recognizing a good patent lawyer is judging their professional ability. Because patent law is so complicated and so difficult, it is hard to assess the substantive performance of a patent lawyer. This is another form of the expert service problem that we all face in other areas such as evaluating the services provided by doctors, dentists, auto mechanics, etc. The client simply lacks the technical background to be able judge the full substantive merits of the professional services of a patent lawyer.

But surrendering on that point leaves only the famous Dirty Harry question: Do you feel lucky? And there are some things to look for, at least two of which come to mind immediately. First, multiple grammatical and spelling errors are not consistent with careful quality work. In and of themselves, such errors may often have no significant impact, but such things are indicative of the larger picture—the equivalent of dirty tableware and stained tablecloths in that fancy restaurant. Second, even though the language of patent claims reflects complicated and unusual constraints, still, by law patent claims have to be clear and definite. Claims that are impenetrable are not right, and are not the mark of a skilled attorney.

So to return to my original question, how do you know if I am a good patent attorney? First, I have to deliver exceptional legal service in my communications and responsiveness. Second, my work product has to be consistent with high quality valuable patents, using clear and definite claim language without glaring grammar and spelling errors. Is that so much to require?