When Good Lawyers Go Bad: Common Ethics Mistakes By IP Practitioners

Michael E. McCabe, Jr.

McCabe Ethics IP Law LLC

Summary

Most patent and trademark attorneys try to do the right thing.  Many IP practitioners mistakenly believe that as long as they are not lying, cheating, or stealing, then their practices are ethical.  Unfortunately, even when acting in good faith, an IP lawyer still can run afoul of the USPTO’s Rules of Professional Conduct, subjecting themselves to possible disciplinary action by the Office of Enrollment and Discipline and endangering their license to practice law. This discussion addresses the most common ways that patent and trademark lawyers unintentionally violate the USPTO’s ethics rules and offers some best practices for avoiding a charge of ethical misconduct.  

Biography

Michael E. McCabe, Jr. is a registered patent attorney and IP litigator.  His nationwide practice focuses in the area of intellectual property legal ethics, with a particular emphasis on representing patent and trademark attorneys in government investigations and disciplinary matters before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and the State Bars in Maryland, Virginia and the District of Columbia.  Michael also provides ethics and risk management counseling to IP lawyers, law firms, and in-house counsel.

Michael is a frequent speaker at conferences and is published nationally.  He is the creator of IPethics & INsights™, an award winning law blog that focuses on ethics and disciplinary issues specifically for the intellectual property lawyer. He has served as an adjunct professor at George Mason University School of Law and presently teaches Patent Law as a guest lecturer at The Johns Hopkins University.

Michael is a graduate of the University of Maryland, College Park, where he received a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering.  Before entering the practice of law, Michael worked as an engineer for NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland.

Michael attended the evening law school at University of Baltimore School of Law, where he graduated with high honor and was a member of the Law Review and National Moot Court team.