How Does Strategy Influence Success and Satisfaction in Your Legal Career?

This blog is an invitation to sit in the seat of an IP Attorney as she navigates a strategic planning session so that you can discern if IP Law is the niche to enhance your success and career satisfaction.

Evaluate the Opportunity:

Are you an attorney who would feel honored to guide a father on how to protect and share the book he wrote for his son? 

What if the reason he wrote the book was because his son was afraid to go to school? 

What if the author was also a psychologist and school principal?  Would that influence your curiosity in any way?

Would you enjoy meeting with him and exploring his best options before they are developed?

The information gathering stage of an Intellectual Property Protection evaluation empowers the IP attorney with the client’s initial perspective and intention. Navigating the initial conversation successfully requires personal awareness and professional mastery so that you can elevate the relevant areas of importance your client may not have considered yet.

What if he came to you with a strategic plan that you questioned? 

What if you knew the implications of the suggested trajectory but he did not? 

Would you feel inspired and obligated to dive into a conversation so that you could open his eyes to other options?

Utilize Practicality and Strategy:

At ArtWorks™ we teach attorneys why investing time at the information gathering stage is practical and strategic. Our expertise has revealed this is the optimal time to explore and determine the trajectory that will lead your client to the goal of success. 

What if you had the time to listen closely to this client with less pressure than you have ever had before? 

What if you realized he had already decided, before he walked in, which direction he wanted his book and derivative works to take?

We utilize a practical approach when teaching and implementing intellectual property protection at ArtWorks™. In this case, by listening intently in the beginning, despite our guidance, we faced the fact that the first derivative work would be an animated series. This meant the legal services would include providing guidance related to open or closed casting calls, contracted freelancers with no IP rights, multiple worker’s unions; generating NDA’s that needed to be mandated, and evaluating whether actors could become co-writers and alter the Intellectual Property Protection plan.

The Alternative Becomes a Back Up Plan:

What if you had the wherewithal to suggest a backup plan that could be deliberately considered during the early development stages so that if the client had an unexpected challenge, you would already be prepared to easily guide him. 

Lack of finances are a reality that may interfere with your client’s vision. What if in 6 months the author realized he didn’t have the required finances?  At ArtWorks™ we find the best strategic plans also identify contingency plans. 

We ensure you know how to empower your clients so they keep moving forward even when financial strain could have halted their progress. In this case, the author could decide to leverage the relationships he already had with school administrators and education commissioners before expanding into animation. 

Anticipate the Unexpected Complication:

Even with the best strategic intellectual property plans, we also plan for the unexpected!  In a case where the content of an original work was published without the guidance of an intellectual property attorney, how would you address that fact that “well-known” brands were referenced in the book without authorization?

Would you be eager to contact brands like Kellogg’s and Apple to explain and negotiate the approval to include them in the animation series? 

How much would you enjoy telling your client the negotiation was successful and approval was in hand?

How would that impact your own career satisfaction?

Become the Differentiator by Blending Your Strategic IP Protection Plan into Negotiation Tactics:

We have numerous examples of ArtWorks™ trained attorneys empowering their clients by negotiating outcomes that other legal advisors saw as impossible to achieve. 

Let’s consider the trailer for the animation series. 

First, the trailer and the script must be protected. 

Second, the strategy within the trailer must align with the trajectory of the business development plan. 

Questions like Who is the intended audience? and How will the trailer be positioned to be seen? are best answered before production begins. Otherwise, costly revisions will impact the author’s budget.

The question becomes Who would be the optimal distribution platform to partner with?

Many of ArtWorks™ clients are new to the industry. We teach attorneys how to access when it is best to allow a distribution channel access to the asset so that they can effectively evaluate the optimal position for the product. In this example, our client will require legal assistance in negotiating terms with the distribution channel. 

We have the practical experience at ArtWorks™ to empower you to optimize each client you serve with intellectual property protection.

We often consider whether the optimal strategic plan is to transfer the asset rights to the selected distributor for an agreed upon timeframe.  By removing certain restrictions on use, the distributor is empowered to establish a strong foundation that the client can quickly build upon in a short period of time.

In similar circumstances, it is important to know when it is beneficial to proactively position the distributor to keep the profits for the first 6 months so they have “skin in the game”.

Another possible scenario is to transfer the cost of the trailer onto the distribution partner so the entire process is accelerated instead of financial strain interfering.

Gain and Apply New Knowledge to Achieve Mastery:

ArtWorks™ attorneys receive real-life experience in our mentorship component. The result? ArtWorks™ Alumnus know how to successfully mitigate the risk involved in the preparation stage, control the risk in the negotiation stage and leverage the desired impact available in the contract terms.

Imagine what it would feel like proactively negotiating terms that trigger a response if the distributor’s performance does not achieve the intended results in a specific period of time. Now imagine drafting the contract so that the terms automatically change based on performance! 

The Results – The Client’s Success Becomes the IP Attorney’s Success:

Revenue follows the intellectual property asset; that’s a fact.  This is why ownership matters!  The key question is “what influences the revenue stream?”  The utilization of the protected product!

By selecting and cultivating a relationship with the optimal distributive partner, the intended results of the business development plan are accelerated. 

When the strategic intellectual property plan you develop works, your client’s success leads to loyalty and ongoing, long term legal services that you get to fulfill.

Just like the author empowered his son to move beyond his fear, ArtWorks™ instills confidence in attorneys who are learning how to master the nuances of IP law so that they can optimize the protection and the success that Intellectual Property Protection affords. 

As your clients achieve success, you are creating your own success as well. 

Be Strategic and Evaluate Your Own Opportunity Now:

We’ve designed a 30 minute on-demand webinar so that you can fully evaluate if the ArtWorks™ Intellectual Property Protection Training and Mentorship Program is the strategic plan that is best for you. 

Opt in here so that you can assess the income projections, the personal satisfaction you would experience serving IP clients, and how you can be paid to provide IP services during your training…enough to pay for the entire ArtWorks™ program, guaranteed.