Authors

Peter J. Gardner, Vermont Law SchoolFollow

A Role for the Business Attorney in the Twenty-First Century: Adding Value to the Client's Enterprise in the Knowledge Economy

Abstract

Mr. Gardner explores the evolving role of business lawyers in the knowledge economy and explains how they must add value to clients' business endeavors. Intellectual property law is the central legal framework through which the business attorney will meet increasingly sophisticated client expectations. The attorney's value-adding service will enable the client to make better business decisions based on the attorney's analysis of the innovative opportunities available to the client. Gardner focuses on several evolving influences on the practice of law that will challenge the profession, such as globalization of commerce; multidisciplinary practice; commoditization of legal services; increased sophistication of clients; rising power of in-house counsel; and significantly, the worldwide transition from a manufacturing to a knowledge economy. Gardner thoroughly analyzes the growing presence and effect of multidisciplinary service organizations in the twenty-first century economy. The Article continues with a deeper look into effective uses of resources and intellectual property asset management. Particularly, the author provides a useful set of guidelines for business attorneys that distinguish between business activities that are appropriate for in-house nonatttorneys to perform and those that are properly left for experienced intellectual property counsel. The future knowledge economy will require business attorneys to continually seek out ways to add intellectual property value to their clients' enterprises.

Repository Citation

Peter J. Gardner, A Role for the Business Attorney in the Twenty-First Century: Adding Value to the Client's Enterprise in the Knowledge Economy, 7 Marq. Intellectual Property L. Rev. 17 (2003).
Available at: https://scholarship.law.marquette.edu/iplr/vol7/iss1/2