PHILOSOPHY

How we see our work

We are a partner and guide to our clients in all matters relating to intellectual property law. Pro-active support is at the heart of all our work. Accordingly, we place a lot of emphasis on understanding our clients' business model, organisational structure and medium to long-term strategy. We derive specific steps for optimum assistance from the continuous support we give to our clients. It is our experience that needs for action are regularly only identified in direct exchange between attorney and client. We do not restrict ourselves merely to reacting to acute problems, but rather develop a strategy for intellectual property rights with our clients and derive specific actions from that in collaboration with them. We bring in the technological expertise we need if it is not already available in-house. We decline tasks we cannot handle properly. We are flexible – this means we never impose our approach, but are guided instead by our clients' requirements – in the selection of communication methods, in personal interactions and in relation to fee settlement. And last but not least, we want the collaboration to be a pleasure both for you and ourselves. Because we believe that achievement is rewarded rather than effort. And achievement comes from the dedication that grows from enthusiasm.

 

Billing and fees

We are proud of our transparent approach to fees. We record all expenditure for work performed in the firm based on the billable hours of attorneys, IP professionals and clerical staff. The smallest billable time unit is 0.1 hours, i.e. 6 minutes. On the one hand we ensure the efficiency of our structure in this way, by identifying laborious procedures and optimising them as necessary and, on the other, we guarantee that every process receives the appropriate level of attention in the firm. We impose no flat rates for administrative tasks, such as formal submission of patent applications, trademark applications or commissioning of foreign colleagues. On the contrary, we work on the basis of the actual time taken in these instances too.

 

One benefit of this approach for clients is that they can help to keep costs down by cooperating efficiently.

 

Case Teams and Of Counsels

15 years' experience in intellectual property law has taught us that optimum results cannot be achieved by one attorney brooding over the case. Optimum results come from dialogue. That's why, when appropriate, we form a “Case Team” of two attorneys who are entrusted with the case and the underlying technical and legal issues. Both attorneys are up-to-date with developments in the case at all times. This makes us

 

  • fast
  • skilled
  • reliable.

 

The Team is made up of the attorneys best suited to the task in terms of technical and legal expertise. Rather than burdening one colleague, potentially overloaded because of their expertise, with more cases than they can seriously handle, this approach means we ensure that every aspect of the case can be deliberated, and the case can be handled in the best possible way for you. We are happy to assign these tasks – usually in a team with patent attorney Raunecker - to our “Of Counsels”. “Of Counsels” are experienced patent attorneys who cooperate with us on a case-by-case basis and are able to devote the necessary attention to the specific case in hand. We always make sure that none of our Of Counsels are working on more than a limited number cases for us at any one time. Because even the most skilled attorney makes mistakes when the pressure is too great. At Raunecker Patent we don't want such a situation to arise.