One of the new members of the SOLO IP team is Michael Factor, a patent attorney, seasoned blogger and enthusiastic advocate for solo practice. In this post, Michael gives a little background to his perspective on blogging, on practice in his jurisdiction and on the thrills and spills of working by oneself. He writes:
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Solo practice means having to be prepared to blow your own trumpet |
"I am an Israeli patent attorney and have been blogging since November 2004 when I first went solo.
My blog, IP Factor, is focused on IP from an Israel perspective, and I try to cover all Israel patent office decisions, IP related decisions of Israel courts, and IP developments relating to Israeli companies abroad.
Israel is a small country where, "if you have the right connections, you don't need to rely on favoritism or nepotism", as the saying goes. The entire IP field in Israel is incestuous: everyone knows everyone else, and may have been in partnership with, formerly married to, trained by or otherwise related to each other.
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What the average sole practitioner is thinking about at any given moment? |
Occasionally, my writing annoys some fellow practitioners -- often to the delight of other colleagues. A few years ago, I offended a patent office employee. I apologized and we moved forwards. One of the more brutal powerful practitioners in Israel was unhappy when I noted that he had an apparent conflict of interest and had done his client a disservice by the strategy he'd taken in a high profile IP suit. One firm had a malpractice suit that went to the Supreme Court and down again. A couple of patent attorneys have sued previous employers. These issues are of interest to the profession, but some of my colleagues might prefer that I did not cover certain events and can be fairly threatening and nasty about it.
As a sole practitioner I take responsibility for what I write, and it is my call. I have never felt to proud to apologize where I've got a fact wrong, but When in partnership, or worse, when an employee in a large firm, one doesn't have the same freedom to blog. And it's not just blogging. I decide whether or not to get up in the morning and go into work, or whether to work from home. Apart from my wife, I am answerable to no-one, and this is a major advantage in being a sole practitioner".
We look forward to introducing further new members of the blog team in the not-too-distant future.
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