What's a typical day on the job like?
I have no routine. Any day is different. I interact a lot with my local clients, Canadian inventors, who typically are researchers at universities. And also with colleagues—patent lawyers and patent agents—all around the world in the US, Europe, Australia, Japan, South America, everywhere.
My practice typically involves providing patentability opinions, drafting and prosecuting patent applications (domestic and foreign), providing validity and freedom-to-operate opinions, regulatory affairs (drug approval, data protection); I also do help our litigation team.
I spend a fair amount of time reading newsletters and journals, science-related and law-related. I need to at least be aware of what is being developed in science. In order to help secure a strong patent protection for an invention, it is critical to understand it very well. I also need to keep up-to-date with the law including court decisions. Occasionally I do write a paper myself and get it published.
I also spend time out of the office at conferences and networking events—I do not miss the opportunity to give a talk. I’m an active member of a few professional organizations including CHAL and the Intellectual Property Institute of Canada (IPIC).