The Economy, Are Patent Attorneys Still Partying?
In this article, one of Fellows and Associates’ resident Journalists, Leon Zadok, considers what impact economic concerns might have on patent attorneys.
As markets fall, house prices rocket, and the banks take on a more tight fisted approach to consumer banking, one would assume that, along with everyone else, the day to day life of a patent attorney would be severely altered. To tackle this issue, Fellows and Associates ask whether, the economic crisis has made a lasting impression on attorneys throughout the, Intellectual Property law world?
The answer, maybe quite predictably, is no. But why is this? The FTSE 100, FTSE 250, and the DJIA indices, to name just a few, have all shown a rapid decline over the last 2 years, rising very modestly from March 2009 to the present. The FTSE 100 average share price fell from 6730.70 to 3530.73, and The DOW fell from 14093.08 to 9370.07, both between the months of October 2007 and March 2009, meaning a large short fall for major shareholders. This depressing decline, coupled with the fact that, on average, the income of a patent attorney is approximately $125,000, a number quoted by the American Intellectual Property Law Association (AIPLA) in 2005, it is likely that many an attorney has felt the wrath of the falling markets.
As well as suffering an, albeit relatively small, loss on average, on the stock market, many attorneys, especially senior partners, also have a hand in the housing market. This could be a first, a second, or even a third property somewhere, and as the land registry index survey shows, in the last 12 months there has been a decrease of 14.0% in the average price of property (recorded at the time of sale). For those with a second property looking to sell, this is a grim time, and as a consequence many have reigned in their personal expenditure. Like Ashley Dickson, a practitioner at Barker Brettell, who states that he has definitely changed his shopping habits, swapping the temptation of the high street for the Internet. “There is a lot more choice [online]; I just booked a holiday to Las Vegas and it was a lot cheaper.”
Individually, those within the IP law sector may have suffered a loss, either through their investment in other companies or in the housing market. This being said, patent law practices have not faltered in projecting a “business as usual” smile to those outside the industry, and, though not immune from the broader economic implications of the recession, it would seem that these firms have predominantly glided through the crisis relatively unscathed. Murgitroyd Group PLC showed unchanged “organic growth” in their biannual interim results report in February 2009. Ian Murgitroyd, group chairman, announced a 3p per share dividend which had remained unchanged since 2007, adding that he was “pleased to report Murgitroyd’s eighth consecutive year of growth against the backdrop of an economic downturn.”
This has been the general trend across the board, but why? Well, helping companies keep those gleaming whites, white, are those US based multinational companies. Goldman Sachs chief economist, Edward McKelvey claims that, “the worst U.S. recession since the 1930s may already be over.” Whether this is true or not, as the US comes out of the trench that we are still desperately attempting to clamber out of, attorneys in the UK are left with a slightly lighter, but a somewhat bolstered, workload. “There is less work around than 12 months ago, but we get a lot from the US,” says Ashley Dickinson. So is a slightly lessened workload going to affect job security? No, many companies are showing a rise in the number of employees and the general outlook from partners has been positive.
Are patent attorneys still partying? Well, according to Dave Maskin, a traffic builder for corporate events, “Businesses continue to hire me. Events and parties never go out of style.” It would seem that, as an industry, Intellectual Property continues to need its lawyers, and Ashley Dickson of Barker Brettell, when asked whether his industry had weathered the storm, remained rather upbeat saying, “Yes it has, and I think we are starting to come through the other side.” Although attorneys seem to have taken a slightly more cautious approach to their personal finance, they have, it would seem, “come through the other side.”
You can contact our News team via email: [email protected].