Director of IP Operations

Director of IP Operations

Cooley is seeking a Director of IP Operations to join Cooley's IP team.

Cooley is a global law firm with an expansive practice and more than 3,000 employees and partners worldwide. We value and celebrate diverse perspectives and strive to create a workplace where every individual can thrive. At the core of Cooley's success is the exceptional talent and unwavering spirit of our people. We embrace individuality while fostering a 'one-firm' culture where collaboration and creativity thrive.

Our people are the foundation of our success and the driving force behind everything we do.

As part of the Cooley culture, we recognize and appreciate the value of being together, in person, to build comradery with others in the office and to be a contributing member of the Cooley office. However, we also appreciate the benefits and flexibility that come from remote working. As such, the default assumption for most employees and partners is a hybrid schedule: some in-office presence and some work from home days absent certain essential in-office roles that require five (5) days/week in-office.

Your supervisor will share more details about the hybrid schedule expectation for this role.

The Director of IP Operations is responsible for oversight of all aspects of IP operations (including applicable IP business professional management) within the IP operations teams. This role also drives IP Best Practice (BPC) initiatives as well as new and continuous learning and professional development opportunities for practitioners and business professionals. Specific duties and responsibilities include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Systematically review processes and systems that support the Patent and Trademark, Copyright, and Advertising (TCA) practices. Identify issues, compliance, other risks and team priorities and propose process and systems improvements
• Develop methods for conducting quality control review of Patent docketing processes to ensure accuracy, consistency and adherence to the rules of 37 C.F.R., TMEP, and foreign national patent offices to ensure compliance with practice and firm risk management guidelines
• Monitor, review, and recommend new materials and resources that have the potential to improve management of the practices or to assist the practitioners/fee-earners/lawyers in providing enhanced service
• Interface with other firm departments to determine best practices and implement efficient workflow and integration points that will make the daily functions of the IP Services more efficient and will enable better collaboration as it relates to intakes and transfers, disengagements, electronic file management, and supporting marketing and business development initiatives
• Oversee IP systems team, including responsibility for the efficient operation of the IP Management System and other systems and software supporting IP Services, and the Patent and TCA practices
• Work collaboratively with Legal Intelligence, Technology, and Practice Innovation teams to ensure technology and specialized resources are adequately vetted, costs considered, and that IP Servies and Patent and TCA practitioners have the resources they need
• Effectively delegate tasks across the direct report manager and supervisor teams
• Establish accountability processes to ensure efficiency and accuracy of services provided
• Develop matrices to measure, evaluate and report on the effectiveness of the operations teams
• Coach and develop direct report managers and supervisors to achieve high client service and operational quality, consistency and high-level customer service
• Manage fixed fee and flat fee billing structure, analysis of costs, competitive data, and realization tracking making timely recommendations for change and improvement
• Together with the Director of Client Accounts and IP Services management, recommend and implement improvements to billing processes
• Lead practice, policies and procedures trainings and related trainings for new group intakes

• Drive all functions of the US Patent Best Practices…