Alt Legal Connect 2020 featured 18 amazing sessions on substantive IP law and practice management. Learn more about these sessions below and click on the links within the individual session descriptions to view the full session summary.
Welcoming over 300 attendees from across the globe to Alt Legal Connect, Alt Legal CEO and Founder Nehal Madhani delivered an inspiring keynote address. Madhani’s speech addressed the future of trademark prosecution and Alt Legal’s vision for changing how trademark professionals practice.
Keynote Summary
On Monday, October 26, Niki Black (lawyer and MyCase legal technology evangelist) presented the session, “Top Technology Tools to Streamline Your Practice” where she discussed the ethics behind using technology in a law practice and what tech tools may be useful for your practice. Black discusses the practicality of working remotely with tools such as cloud computing and mobile computing for lawyers.
Session Summary
On Monday, October 26, Kim Bennett of K. Bennett Law, Jon Tobin of Counsel for Creators and Jason Foscolo of The Food Law Firm presented the session, “Building a Subscription Practice.” Each imparted valuable advice and insights into how they came to the conclusion that using a subscription pricing model for their firms was as Kim Bennet professed, “a shift to a proactive approach for your clients – let them come to you before there is a fire.”
Session Summary
On Monday, October 26, Tish Berard of Velcro Companies and Josh Jarvis of Foley Hoag presented the session, “When It Isn’t What It Is: Maintaining Brand Distinctiveness and Avoiding ‘Genericide.’” Genericide is a painful process for proud trademark owners, but Josh and Trish have some great tools to prevent it.
Session Summary
On Monday, October 26, Sonia Lakhany presented the session, “The Wow Factor: Differentiating Yourself and Your Legal Practice.” In this BYOL (Bring Your Own Laptop) workshop, Sonia Lakhany taught attendees some innovative strategies for building a firm brand through her own signature “The Wow Factor” methodology.
Session Summary
On Monday, October 26, famed cannabis law specialists Shabnam Malek and Amanda Conley of Brand & Branch LLP presented the session, “Getting into the Weeds: Cannabis Law and IP Protection.” The presenters discussed the peculiarities of IP protection in the cannabis industry and offered practical suggestions for serving these particular clients.
Session Summary
On Monday, October 26, Carlos Cucurella, a partner at Fross Zelnick who focuses on international trademark prosecution, interviewed Ainslee A. Schreiber, Head of IP at WeWork, during the session, “At Home and Abroad: Building a Strong International Brand.” They discussed international trademark prosecution, maintenance, and enforcement
Session Summary
On Monday, October 26, Stephanie Pottick of Pottick Law PC and Chris Ott of Capital One presented a fun and practical session at Alt Legal Connect, “Licensing: Using Trademarks and Copyrights as Business Asset.” During this session, they lent their experience as in-house counsel and outside counsel, representing both creators and licensees, and provided important information about how to increase a company’s valuation through licensing.
Session Summary
On Tuesday, October 27, David Lat, Managing Director at Lateral Link and founder of Above the Law, presented the session, “Defining Diversity.” During this session, David discussed how to expand our definition and understanding of diversity in order to create truly diverse and inclusive workplaces.
Session Summary
On Tuesday, October 27, Ed Timberlake of Timberlake Law presented the session, “Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Nontraditional Trademarks (But Were Afraid to Ask.)” Ed led a wonderful discussion and helped us understand that non-traditional trademarks should not really be considered non-traditional because they do exactly what trademarks are supposed to do.
Session Summary
On Tuesday, October 27, Brandon Leavitt, Managing Partner at Leavitt Eldredge Law Firm, delivered the session, “Bootstrapping Your Practice.” During the session, Brandon shared his framework for building, growing, adapting, and optimizing a trademark practice efficiently and cost-effectively.
Session Summary
On Tuesday, October 27, Dorna Mohaghegh of Frankfurt Kurnit Klein & Selz interviewed Courtney Alvarez, who was a USPTO trademark examiner for over a decade before recently launching her own firm, CMA Trademarks, LLC, during the session, “A Thorough Examination: An Interview with a Recent Trademark Examiner.” Courtney answered questions about procedure and provided helpful tips and tricks to help ensure successful trademark registration.
Session Summary
On Tuesday, October 27, Emil J. Ali, Partner at McCabe & Ali LLP, presented the session, “A Trademark Attorney’s Guide to the OED – and How to Avoid Inadvertent Ethical Violations.” He provided a brief introduction to the USPTO’s Office of Enrollment and Discipline (OED) and explained how to ensure compliance with the USPTO Rules of Professional Conduct.
Session Summary
On Tuesday, October 27, Karima Gulick, a patent attorney, aerospace engineer, and host of the GenWhy Lawyer podcast moderated a panel discussion with attorneys Andrea Sager, Abraham Lichy, and Kristen Roberts, “Growing Your Practice with Digital Marketing.” The panel of successful solos disucussed how they’ve taken their practices from $0 to six figures with the help of different kinds of digital marketing from Facebook Ads to groups, niche outreach, and content creation.
Session Summary
On Wednesday, October 28, Ticora Davis of The Creator’s Law Firm presented the session, “Culturally Relevant Representation.” During this session, Ticora offered strategies and practical tips for marketing to, communicating with, and representing demographics different from your own, including those outside of the US.
Session Summary
On Wednesday, October 28, Caroline Fox, of CJ Fox Law, presented the session, “Filing Trademarks with an Eye Towards Litigation.” During this session, Caroline discussed how transactional trademark attorneys can file applications and advise clients to best position marks against potential litigation.
Session Summary
On Wednesday, October 28, Clio Co-founder Jack Newton delivered a keynote address at Alt Legal Connect, “Creating a Client-Centered Law Firm.” During this session, he shared insights from his book The Client-Centered Law Firm and spoke about how attorneys can provide a client-centered experience and still run an efficient, profitable law firm.
Session Summary
On Wednesday, October 28, Allison Ricketts, Partner at Fross Zelnick Lehrman & Zissu, presented the session, “What You Need to Know about the USPTO’s Post-Registration Audit Program.” She provided an overview of the USPTO’s post-registration audit program, its results thus far, and how to prepare your clients to pass the audit in the event their registration is selected for audit.
Session Summary
On Wednesday, October 28, Lynne Boisineau of Boisineau Law moderated a panel discussion with in-house attorneys Sejal Patel Richbourg of Shutterstock and Sofya Nadgorny of Warner Music Group and former in-house IP paralegal Susan Milloy, “What In-house Clients Really Want and How to Deliver It.” During this session, Lynne posed a number of questions to the panel to understand the inner workings of the in-house and outside counsel relationship and how they can work together most effectively.
Session SummaryJoin hundreds of trademark professionals for three days of networking and learning!
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