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Growing with HFZ: Hanley Flight & Zimmerman develops great engineers into great patent attorneys

Posted on 21 Oct, 2022 by Hanley Flight & Zimmerman

Hanley Flight & Zimmerman isn’t just trusted by the best companies in the country, it’s also earned the trust of its employees to be a supportive environment where their careers can take off.

James Redondo and Maggie Harrington are just two examples of how engineers can grow into patent attorneys with HFZ.

While Maggie is in the early stages of law school and James is a partner with the firm, both joined HFZ looking for a new challenge in their careers.

They saw patent law as a way to use their engineering skills and keep learning about technology. And after the firm hired them, both received mentorship and advice from colleagues at every step.

A math teacher goes to engineering school, and then finds a third career: Patent law

James, an undergraduate mathematics and education major, taught high school for five years before a friend thought he’d make a good electrical engineer. So James went back to college for a second bachelor’s degree.

At a career fair his senior year, James didn’t feel a real connection with many of the companies advertising engineering jobs. But HFZ’s table piqued his curiosity.

What James heard about patent law led him to apply for a job.

“You’re learning about little pieces of different technologies because every project you get comes from a different company, or a different group within that company,” he said. “You’re getting exposure to all these different technologies. It’s not just one thing over and over and over.”

James started at HFZ as a patent engineer, writing applications.

“It tapped into my education roots, because you’re essentially writing an instruction manual or a textbook,” he said.

Then, after a year, he decided to enter law school, finishing his degree at night while working for HFZ in the day – a path many of the firm’s attorneys were familiar with.

“If they can do it, I thought I could figure it out too. And these patent attorneys are all like me. They’re all technical,” James said. “The experience I got writing patent applications helped me a lot with the writing that was required in law school.

“What they told me was true.”

Today, James offers the same advice to aspiring patent lawyers that he once heard as an engineer.

“It’s a lot of work, but it’s good work,” he said. “It’s fulfilling, it’s challenging, in multiple different ways. And you’re gonna grow a lot when you work here.”

From ‘stunted’ in an engineering role to ‘supported’ as a future patent attorney

Maggie joined HFZ shortly after starting her career as a mechanical engineer on the manufacturing floor of an aerospace company. Concerned her growth would be “stunted” in that role, she became interested in patent law and how it would allow her to use her degree and technical skills.

She applied for a job at HFZ and is in her second year as a patent engineer.

“I’m not a ‘sit back and let’s just coast right through the workday’ person,” Maggie said. “HFZ really pushes me. The attorneys have very high standards.”

She found her fellow patent engineers to be “some of the most motivating people ever.” They showed her how to balance work at HFZ with law school. HFZ’s mentorship program also added to her support system.

That convinced Maggie to go for her law degree.

“‘OK, I can do this,’” she told herself. “This is a great opportunity for me to pursue.”

Today, Maggie is six weeks into law school, taking advantage of the firm’s flex- and part-time policy that also gives employees time away from work for childcare or other responsibilities in addition to school work. HFZ also assigns each new employee to a mentor.

Before deciding to enter school, Maggie was “hyper vigilant” to how HFZ treated her fellow patent engineers who were in school, paying attention to their stress levels and workloads. Now she feels the same support when she needs to log off in the late afternoon to attend school.

“I knew going in that it would be a good situation,” she said of her decision to work and go to school.

Maggie said her confidence flourished from her first day at HFZ, when she was assigned a docket with her initials on it. In contrast with her engineering jobs, Maggie said she quickly felt comfortable adding her voice to discussions at HFZ.

“I’ve grown so much working for HFZ,” she said. “I feel supported and heard. I feel like I’m a member of the team. And I’m contributing, which is the best feeling to have in any job.”

A Day in the Life: Zachary Herbert, Patent Engineer

Posted on 29 Sep, 2022 by Hanley Flight & Zimmerman

In the world of patent prosecution, no two days are exactly the same. However, there is a cadence to the work. What does a “typical” day look like at Hanley Flight & Zimmerman? Let’s join Patent Engineer Zachary Herbert for a day in his work life.

How It Started

Zachary graduated from Purdue University in May 2022 with his bachelor’s degree in Aeronautical and Astronautical engineering – a strong technical foundation. Additionally, Zachary interned with HFZ for two summers prior to joining full-time, so he was ready to hit the ground running this summer.

How It’s Going

Zachary starts each day reviewing his docket of work to identify high-priority items and plan his day. Depending on the day, he may be in his home or at the HFZ office in downtown Chicago. Like many of his colleagues, Zachary makes the most of a flexible work schedule to choose the best location for the day, depending on the type of task or collaboration needed.

The work of Patent Engineers like Zachary is a vital part of the patent process. They dig into inventions to understand what patent protection may be available. Patent Engineers also provide detailed examples of how to build and use the invention in the patent application itself, working with the inventor to better understand the product or process to develop the specification with alternative approaches.

Throughout the day, Zachary can take on a variety of patent prosecution tasks. He may participate in Patent Examiner interviews with HFZ attorneys or work with inventors to properly explain and define their inventions. His day typically includes writing, be it drafting patent applications with the support of senior patent attorneys; preparing Office Action Responses; or incorporating feedback from other members of the HFZ team on the project. When in the office, Zachary can grab lunch with his teammates or take a walk along the river for a quick break to recharge mid-day.

Where He’s Headed

While Zachary joined HFZ following two successful internships, continuing his career growth is an important part of his job. Zachary has regular meetings with his mentor, Mark Hanley. HFZ’s mentorship program was intentionally crafted to help new patent engineers build relationships, receive meaningful and timely feedback, and make the most of their first year in practice. The supportive environment is part of why Zachary chose to stay with HFZ following his internships.

Like many early-career Patent Engineers, Zachary focuses on his career path after hours as well. He has been applying to law school, which he will start next fall. Attending law school while working can be challenging, so having the mentorship of seasoned professionals that have been through the process is essential.

Off the Clock

While his degree in Aeronautical and Astronautical engineering means Zachary is interested in how things fly, he also enjoys the end product. Zachary is working to obtain his Private Pilot License. Physical activity is another key part of Zachary’s day; he stays active either rock climbing or going for a run. He finds that consistent effort helps him stay focused, energetic and ready for the next challenge.

7 Things to Know About HFZ’s Mark Zimmerman

Posted on 29 Sep, 2022 by Hanley Flight & Zimmerman

Mark Zimmerman has a hard time believing that Hanley Flight & Zimmerman is celebrating more than 20 years of service. Today, they’re one of Chicago’s most successful intellectual property law firms. For Zimmerman, it still feels like they opened for business just yesterday.

In a recent conversation, he shared his thoughts on HFZ’s first two decades — and talked about the time he accidentally scored a patent of his own.

Getting a patent is only part of the job. Zimmerman wants to make clients’ IP bulletproof.

HFZ helps clients secure patents for their inventions, but that’s only part of what the team does. The firm also develops strategies for protecting those patents from people who might challenge them later in court.

“You can kind of go through the motions and get someone a patent and pray that it never gets litigated,” Zimmerman said.

“Or you can treat it like it’s an asset. Like we expect it to be litigated one day and treat it like it’s really, really important. Our firm falls into the latter category – we want to issue patents that withstand litigation.”

One of the keys to HFZ’s success? They’re attorneys who can think like engineers.

In fact, more than a few of the firm’s attorneys are former engineers. That includes Zimmerman, who got his start as a design engineer with Motorola.

The team’s know-how makes a huge difference when inventors come in and explain how their technology works. HFZ grasps new ideas quickly.

“I think our technical expertise sets us apart,” Zimmerman said. “Of course, we don’t know all the intricacies of what they’re doing because what they’re doing is new. But we’re able to get into the ballpark pretty fast.”

The happiest man at Motorola inspired Zimmerman to become a patent attorney.

Early on, when he was trying to figure out the next step in his career, Zimmerman talked to senior people in several departments. Of everyone he interviewed, the person who seemed happiest was a patent attorney.

Zimmerman still remembers their talk: “He says, ‘You know what, Mark? I have the best job in this whole company.’ And he tells me the job is meeting with the engineers, learning about the new inventions and getting them protected. And that sounded cool.”

It inspired Zimmerman to go to law school at night, join a law firm specializing in intellectual property — and eventually launch HFZ with Mark Hanley and Jim Flight.

Zimmerman has something in common with clients: He has a patent, too.

HFZ makes a point of going above and beyond for clients, Zimmerman said. But one case stands out.

“I was thinking about a client’s problem before the meeting and thought up a solution. I said, ‘Couldn’t you guys do this?’” he recalled. “The client really liked the invention, so we worked together to patent it. I think that kind of invention only occurs when you are deeply thinking about your client’s business and their problems. It is gratifying to have that kind of relationship and a very enjoyable way to work.”

He’s not just HFZ’s co-founder. He’s the former head of accounts receivable.

When you’re starting a new business, sometimes you have to wear multiple hats. In Zimmerman’s case, he was responsible for accounts receivable while Hanley took point on accounts payable.

“You could tell the two guys who were patent attorneys by day had, by night, done the accounting work,” Zimmerman said.

One milestone for HFZ was when they realized they had enough business to justify hiring an accountant, which was surprisingly early on in the history of the business.

If he wasn’t a lawyer, he’d probably be building things.

Zimmerman grew up in his family’s construction business, Wm. Tonyan & Sons of McHenry, Illinois. “My dad and my uncles owned a business that my cousins run now,” he said. “And so I started working there when I was in the eighth grade. I think now if I weren’t doing this, I would want to be building things.”

That first job taught him lessons that he still uses at HFZ.

“I like making a business work — that kind of thing that you don’t get taught in law school,” he said. “And I think I learned a lot of that from my dad, just watching him run the construction company when I was a kid.”

It’s all about protecting clients’ ideas.

A big part of HFZ’s job is talking with patent examiners, the government officials who decide whether an invention meets the standard for patentability.

“A lot of times it gets down to talking on the phone with the examiners, explaining who your client is, what they’re bringing to the table and letting the examiners understand that the inventor is a real person that solved a real problem,” Zimmerman said.

“And that’s what we’re trying to protect. We’re trying to protect what our inventors brought to the table.”

James Flight Honored Among Leading IP Strategists

Posted on 22 Sep, 2022 by Hanley Flight & Zimmerman

James (Jim) Flight, a founding member of HFZ, is recognized in the 2022 edition of IAM Strategy 300: The World’s Leading IP Strategists.

The IAM Strategy 300 identifies “individuals who are leading the way in the development of strategies that maximize the value of IP portfolios.” The list comprises leaders from a variety of arenas, including service providers, corporations, research institutions and universities. Areas of specialty range from brokering to valuation; Jim is listed in the Legal category.

The roster of honorees was compiled through an editorial process that includes peer nominations, research and source interviews. More information on the methodology is available here.

Engineering Success: Mentorship in Action at HFZ

Posted on 20 Sep, 2022 by Hanley Flight & Zimmerman

When it comes to the traditional law firm onboarding process, one recent tweet sums up a far too common scenario:

twitter screenshot from Maria S

As evidenced by nearly 1,000 likes, the author describes a feeling of loneliness and confusion that is familiar to many. Indeed, the American Bar Association shared one survey in which 88 percent of associates said the right mentor was essential for career development….but only 27 percent said one was available to them.

Lack of mentorships is one problem; the success of mentorships is another. In a survey by Major, Lindsey & Africa, less than one-third – 29 percent – of associate lawyers said mentors made a significant difference.

Looking to address both of these concerns, Chicago’s Hanley Flight & Zimmerman (HFZ) created a mentorship program designed to build quality relationships and provide real-time feedback, both quantitative and qualitative, to help new lawyers and patent engineers make the most of their first year in practice.

The fundamentals of the program:

  • Every new hire is assigned a mentor. Mentors are HFZ’s capital members, experienced lawyers or experienced patent agents.
  • Mentors and mentees meet frequently. This frequency means that if a problem does surface, it is addressed early – and the practitioner has sufficient time to course-correct.
  • Once a month, mentors review the mentees’ key performance indicators (KPIs), reports that show quantitative measures such as efficiency, on-time delivery and billable hours.
  • Mentors also share qualitative feedback. Through the firm intranet, HFZ colleagues can share praise or advice on an ongoing basis; this is collected by the mentors and shared with the mentees monthly as well.

“Together, the KPIs and the feedback drive their conversations so they talk about things that matter,” said Founding Member Mark Zimmerman. “Here’s how you are performing on paper, and here’s what people are saying.”

In addition to providing meaningful structure to the mentor-mentee meetings, Zimmerman said the format prevents any shocking revelations at year-end evaluations.

“It makes the end-of-year review like getting a report card,” he said. “You know the grades you have earned throughout the class. There are no surprises.”

It’s a vastly different approach to what he and the other firm founders endured as associates, Zimmerman said.

“We didn’t receive hours reports, we didn’t receive efficiency reports, and no one was assigned to us,” he said. “Some people had the mentors they needed, but some didn’t.”

By creating formal mentor-mentee pairs – and providing them a helpful structure – the HFZ program has proven to benefit more than just the new hires.

“It helps the mentors remember what it was like to be at that stage, to remember the demands on these people, and to adjust expectations,”  he said. “It also benefits the entire firm to have people truly invested in these people’s success – it makes a more pleasant sandbox.”

Over the long run, it helps clients too, he said: “Any time we have people with the firm doing the work in a way that delivers consistency and quality, it benefits our clients.”

Seven Things to Know About Mark Hanley As His Firm Turns 20

Posted on 13 Sep, 2022 by Hanley Flight & Zimmerman

Hanley Flight & Zimmerman doesn’t just make Chicago proud as a top intellectual property law firm. It also stands out as a business where the founders read books about rock band dynamics to make sure they’re staying the course.

Here are seven highlights from a recent conversation with co-founder Mark Hanley, covering his history with the firm, how he got there, what HFZ offers clients – and what Aerosmith has to teach us all.

He became a patent lawyer after working as an engineer for a decade.

“I was in product development, where several of the devices we developed were the subject of some patent applications. I was a joint inventor on all of them,” Hanley said. “You sit down with the patent attorneys at some point to talk to them about your invention. And I got curious one day and talking with this patent attorney that came in to speak with the group.”

He learned that the attorney had originally graduated with an engineering degree before deciding he wanted to take a different course.

That triggered a memory from when Hanley mowed lawns as a preteen. A patent attorney client offered a peek into the future.

The attorney noticed that Hanley enjoyed fixing things and tinkering with his mower. So he called him over one day to look at his work.

“He had all these papers spread out,” Hanley said. “And he said, ‘You know, I’m a patent attorney, and I work on inventions. And I was an engineer. And I like tinkering with things, too. But I thought I’d show you some of these.’ And they were published patent applications.”

While as a youth Hanley understood the conversation as a nudge to become an engineer, the lightbulb went off for him as an adult. Maybe he was meant to do more.

At that point, he made a major life change. He decided to quit his job and become a patent attorney.

The engineering business was changing, with work being outsourced to Taiwan.

Hanley ended up leaving his engineering gig altogether. “I ended up finding a job at a firm in the city, working for them during the day and going to law school at night,” he said. “And that’s where I met [Mark] Zimmerman and [James] Flight.”

After starting the firm, the founders haven’t forgotten what it was like. They offer that support to new employees making similar changes.

“We know what it feels like to be in school at night, to work all day and to go to school at night,” Hanley said. He added: “It’s not like these people that are going to school at night that work with us have a light docket, they have a pretty heavy docket. They work hard.”

The point, he noted, is that law school isn’t forever. The firm supports those going through the process. And it makes great business sense, too; people that work with HFZ during law school can hit the ground running when they graduate.

The company’s positive culture makes a difference, both to those working there and those who hire HFZ for IP work.

Hanley acknowledges that law firms can be challenging environments for employees. But HFZ’s folks enjoy their work and are satisfied with what they do, which he ranks as an important accomplishment.

But that’s just one side of the coin. “The clients give us great feedback. They’re very happy with our work,” he said. “I’m pretty proud to hear things from some of these bigger companies, like ‘You’re our favorite prosecution firm in the country.’”

What three words would he use to describe HFZ?

“Serious. And I think we’re serious about the work. That’s where that comes from.”

Flexible. “We’re very flexible toward individuals and what’s happening with them personally,” Hanley said. “But also business wise … we try to take our ego out of this stuff and think about it. Maybe we’re doing it wrong, you know. We revisit things all the time.”

Determined. “We are determined to make it work. We don’t give up.”

When asked where he found unusual sources of inspiration, Hanley noted a very specific genre of nonfiction: books about rock bands and their dynamics, especially one by Joe Perry of Aerosmith.

“The business part of this rock band thing is really interesting,” he said. “Because it’s personalities, right? … The way these guys work, it’s like a partnership. And they have all this business to conduct.”

In a focused law firm, members need to approach each other with empathy and understanding, he said – and seek harmony among the different parts.
“You can’t just get emotional or let the emotion carry you away, because that’s when bands break up, right?” he said. He added: “Going solo almost never works.”

Top 10 Large Law Firms for Patent Quality 2021

Posted on 22 Mar, 2022 by Hanley Flight & Zimmerman

The 2021 edition of our Patent Quality Rankings is now live!

At Patent Bots, we used our advanced machine learning software to proofread an entire year of issued patents. We then ranked 787 US law firms by the smallest average number of errors in the issued patents.

Here, we announce the top 10 US law firms for patent quality with at least 500 issued patents in the last year. Congratulations to these firms for doing amazing work!

(1) Alleman Hall Creasman & Tuttle LLP
(2) Harrity & Harrity, LLP
(3) Guntin & Gust, PLC
(4) Posz Law Group, PLC
(5) CHIP LAW GROUP
(6) McDermott Will & Emery LLP
(7) Holland & Hart LLP
(8) Hanley, Flight & Zimmerman, LLC
(9) Keating & Bennett, LLP
(10) Studebaker Brackett PC

Next week, we will be announcing the overall top 50 US law firms to be followed by the top firms in different tech centers and the top companies.

HFZ Gives Back

Posted on 1 Jul, 2021 by Hanley Flight & Zimmerman

HFZ is proud to partner with Chicago Hope Academy, a Near West Side private Christian high school. Our donation of iPads and cases to the school will serve both students and their families as they prepare for college. With a student body consisting of more than 80% Latinx and Black students, Chicago Hope Academy and HFZ are committed to support our local community and invest in their success.

Eileen Lysaught, General Counsel, met with school administrators and student ambassadors to tour the campus and experience how Chicago Hope Academy is educating the next generation of leaders. Learn more at www.chicagohopeacademy.org.

HFZ Success Stories

Posted on 21 May, 2021 by Hanley Flight & Zimmerman

At HFZ, we value the strong and collaborative relationships we have with our clients. Their successes are our successes. Here are a few client success stories and endorsements that illustrate our dedication to service.

“HFZ has partnered with Nielsen to help us advance from a few patent filings a year to one of the top patenting entities in the world. They have delivered top notch results with an innovative approach to delivering cost effective services. As a result, they are our go-to patent prosecution team.”
–Eric Dale, Former Chief Legal Officer, Nielsen

“I have worked with Jim Flight for over 20 years and he and his team have always provided excellent legal advice regarding my company’s intellectual property. HFZ is very detailed and thorough and has written and filed over 100 patents on my company’s behalf. In 2019, Crain’s Business named Kolcraft the second most innovative company in Chicago based on the patent’s likely market value of the innovation and whether it’s likely to hold up in litigation. As the patent prosecutors, HFZ deserves a lot of credit for this achievement. HFZ has also provided sound advice to support our policy of respecting third party patents during our new product development.”
–Tom Koltun, President, Kolcraft

“I first worked with HFZ while employed as a Patent Attorney at Hewlett-Packard, I was serving on and internal Quality Team at HP, and HFZ was retained by HP to audit the quality of HP’s recent patent application filings, HP retained HFZ to draft and prosecute patent applications. Since joining VMware in 2011, I have continued to send work to HFZ. Inventors love working with HFZ attorneys, and HFZ excels at invention harvesting and continuation practice. On characteristic that sets HFZ apart from other firms is consistent work product. HFZ does a great job supervising work from new attorneys, and I am impressed at how quickly new attorneys come up to speed. I highly recommend HFZ.”
–David Plettner, Senior IP Counsel, VMware, Inc.

“Rite-Hite has been an HFZ client since 2005, and we could not be more pleased with their expertise, professionalism and willingness to work both for and with us to obtain value-added IP protection. HFZ has also been very flexible about how we work together – as we have advanced from doing most of the substantive patent work ourselves, and using HFZ primarily for docketing and filing, to a situation where our internal patent professionals now manage the insightful patent prosecution work performed at HFZ. It is gratifying to have this kind of relationship with a professional services firm, and I would give and unqualified recommendation of HFZ to anyone seeking an IP law firm with excellent skills and customer service.”
–Matthew C. McNeill, Chief Innovation Officer, Rite-Hite Holding Corporation