With the technology industry sustaining its brisk expansion, demand to
protect patents, trademarks and copyrights is at an all-time high. As a
result, according to a new nationwide survey of attorneys, intellectual
property (IP) remains today's hottest legal specialty. Fifty-eight percent
of attorneys polled said IP is the fastest growing field of law. This
compares to 49 percent of lawyers responding to this same question in a 1997
survey.
Both surveys were developed by The Affiliates, a leading staffing service
specializing in project attorneys and legal support personnel. They were
conducted by an independent research firm and include responses from 200
attorneys among the nation's 1,200 largest law firms.
Attorneys were asked, "In your opinion, which one of the following areas of
law is growing the fastest?" Their responses:
- Intellectual Property
- Employment or labor
- Corporate transactional
- Environmental
- Real estate
- Other
- Don't know/no answer
"Technology is having a significant impact on IP law," said Kathleen Call,
executive director of The Affiliates. "As greater numbers of new products
and services are introduced and more information is made available on the
Internet, intellectual property protection has become critical for both
companies and individuals."
Call noted that many law firms, responding to the needs of current and
prospective clients, are creating separate IP teams. "In addition," she
said, "a number of start-up and emerging businesses are not only retaining
outside counsel to secure patents and protect trademarks and copyrights, but
are forming internal legal departments to address these issues."
The Affiliates provides law firms and corporate legal departments with
specialized temporary and full-time professionals including project
attorneys, paralegals and legal support personnel. The Internet address for
accessing The Affiliates' Web site and online job search services is
www.affiliates.com
