The Life of a Regulator

It's all about organisation

The morning's email brought a copy of the recently published Annual Report 2010 from IPReg - the regulator of most patent and trademark attorneys. It is one of the smaller regulators that come under the aegis of the Legal Services Board. 
These smaller professions have proudly boasted that they hardly ever have any complaints and could self regulate very well before this new regime came into force. Therefore it comes as something of a surprise that the report indicates that there have been far more requests for guidance on conduct by attorneys in relation to the activities of others attorneys than from the public. They say:
"We are concerned that we should not to be used as leverage in what may be, essentially, a commercial dispute e.g. over “ownership” of client following.
Whatever the source of the complaint, however, we are obliged to follow the same processes and this is a cost to the profession as a whole."

In short, if you want to keep the fees down, don't come to IPReg to resolve your restrictive covenant problems. Frankly, it is unprofessional for a partnership not to be able to manage its business discreetly when it is necessary for staff and partners to be reduced. Yes the recession is really hitting the IT profession now as decisions to put off maintaining intellectual property can no longer be delayed by our clients. As the EPO office actions become more contentious and the Appeal Board decisions later or arbitrary, it's harder to justify the investment.  Its better for the country if our clients stay in business even if we don't.

Alternative Business Structures (ABS)

The Report also indicates that one of the issues facing IPReg this year is whether it should be an ABS regulator. Personally, I was surprised that the Law Society and the Solicitors Regulation Authority had so much difficulty in deciding that they would regulate ABS. Neil Rose covers the decision very well in his Guardian article. Surely it is now increasingly clear that lawyers are good at practising law but bad at running businesses and that the law like every other business should be professionally managed. In short, it seems to me an ABS is the only legal business a consumer or a business should want to enter into a relationship with. Of course, dealing with a SOLO practitioner or a barrister is the exception because you are buying a personal service. Personally, I hope that IPReg will take the plunge and become an ABS regulator. Otherwise I foresee Patent and Trademark attorneys once more joining the great unregulated and the British Standard won't really help.

Recession, what recession?

What do others think of all this talk about recession? In the Law Society’s Gazette this week there are dire warnings for small and medium sized firms. Apparently the legal sector feel the effects of a recession some eight months after the rest of the business world, and should be bracing themselves etc etc. If I knew how to blog I would link you to relevant articles but sadly have yet to learn how to do these things. A lesson from Jeremy seems in order. Well on the other hand I read somewhere that this whole "recession" thing everyone's blathering about is merely fabricated by the US media so they'll have more to, g-r-i-p-e about while they assault us with election propaganda. Apparently ABC, NBC, CBS and CNN have predicted 40 out of the last 2 recessions. I personally think this is going to be a wonderful year for people who make it a wonderful year. If throughout our day we continually ask ourselves the question, "Is there anything in my life that I should do more of, less of, start, or stop?" then chances are good that you can make this the best year yet. Any thoughts from anyone?