Senior Manager of Intellectual Property

JOB DESCRIPTION:

Honigman is a premier business law firm with an international practice. Consistently recognized in Metropolitan Detroit as one of the Best and Brightest Places to Work, we earned this recognition by recruiting attorneys and staff members with outstanding credentials. We are looking for an experienced Senior Manager, Intellectual Property for our Detroit Office. In addition to our Detroit Office, we have locations in Bloomfield Hills, Ann Arbor, Kalamazoo, Grand Rapids, Lansing, Chicago, IL and Washington D.C. With more than 300 attorneys working in 60 different areas of concentration, Honigman provides timely and cost-effective counsel to clients in numerous industries.

The Senior Manager, Intellectual Property reports to the IP Department Chair and Vice Chair, is responsible for firm-wide patent and trademark business professional management, and plays a key role in development, growth and performance of all IP business professionals, including identification and implementation of processes and systems to optimize the performance of the IP Department and improve client service. The Senior Manager, Intellectual Property collaborates with individuals in all Honigman offices to facilitate seamless national IP operations.

RESPONSIBILITIES:

• Manage IP (patent and trademark) business professionals including paralegals, specialists, and docketing team.
• Manage business professional workload allocation, overtime, and cross-office support.
• Oversee IP docketing business professionals, protocols, and process and system development and implementations in accordance with, or more than, market standards.
• Develop and implement program to cross-train and succession plan to ensure uninterrupted support of the Firm s clients and department attorneys.
• Stay current on patent-related PTO practice news and changes. Coordinate meetings with business professionals to discuss pertinent issues, keeping business professionals informed and updated.
• Partner with HR on new hire onboarding, training, professional development, and performance management of all IP Department business professionals.
• Design, direct, and implement best practices and processes that minimize risk and maximize opportunities for the Firm and its clients through efficient and cost-effective measures.
• Manage and maintain standard and consistent operational practices across IP practice groups regardless of location.
• Create and track patent and trademark prosecution processing metrics and provide statistical reporting.
• Oversee all new client onboarding and ensure that it is completed in an effective and timely fashion.
• Maintain a current awareness of emerging technology trends, tools, solutions and best practices in the IP industry.
• Actively collaborate with IP attorneys, IP business professionals, and other firm professionals to determine practice specific challenges and seek solutions with the effective use of technology and processes.
• Support the implementation and roll-out of practice technology related platforms and software and effectively coordinate with internal stakeholders, drive project deadlines, schedules, efficiency and user adoption.
• Oversee prosecution annuity and maintenance procedures and compliance with Firm policy.
• Develop strong working relationships with all your team members.

QUALIFICATIONS:

• A bachelor s degree from an accredited college or university.
• Eight years of experience working in an IP Department in a similarly sized, multi-office professional services organization. Must have demonstrated supervisory experience with the ability to mentor and manage individuals to grow in their profession.
• Working knowledge of domestic and international patent and trademark operations.
• Proven ability to interact with personnel at all levels of the organization in a tactful, cooperative, and professional manner.
• Conducts oneself with honesty, integrity, courtesy, and respect and earns the trust and respect of others.
• Excellent communication skills, both oral and written, and ability to make effective presentations to small and/or large groups of internal and external participants.
• Skilled professional / technical oral communication and writing skills; ability to explain technology to a non-technical audience, and to explain legal practices and workflows to technical solution teams.
• Proficiency in MS Excel, MS Word, PowerPoint, Access, and Visio; iManage, or similar document management systems; Adobe Acrobat, Nuance PDF, or equivalent.
• Familiarity with information management software systems as well as intellectual property-specific software systems and vendors including patent and trademark prosecution, document management, workflow, information management, and invoicing systems and services is a plus.
• Proven critical thinking skills, creativity, resilience, and persistence in solving varied, complex, and non-routine problems.
• Strong time management and project management skills to meet multiple objectives and deadlines.
• Ability to work effectively both independently and with others in a cooperative and collaborative manner and to provide excellent client service in all interactions.
• Proven change agent and advocate is self-motivated and effective.
• Periodic travel to Firm offices will be necessary.

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