How do I evaluate an intellectual property attorney?

Align the attorney with the asset: trademark, copyright, trade secret, and patent work are distinct practices, and only a practitioner registered with the USPTO may prosecute patent applications — verifiable in the USPTO's public practitioner roster, alongside a State Bar of California license check for legal work in the state.

Evaluate on three axes: qualification, asset fit, and approach. Qualification is public record — active licensure through the State Bar of California for California legal work (Business and Professions Code section 6125), and for patent prosecution, USPTO registration, which requires a technical background and a separate federal exam; the USPTO publishes a searchable practitioner roster. Asset fit means the practice handles your kind of property: trademark clearance and prosecution, copyright registration and licensing, trade secret protection, and patent work are different disciplines, and a candid attorney will say which they do daily. Approach shows in the first conversation: whether filings are flat-fee and what the fee includes; what a clearance search covers before a brand is adopted; how enforcement runs, from takedown notices and demand letters to Trademark Trial and Appeal Board or federal litigation; and, for patents, who drafts the application and how office actions are billed. Ownership paperwork — assignments and license terms — is where cheap work gets expensive, so ask who reviews yours.

Authority: Cal. Bus. & Prof. Code § 6125; State Bar of California