Intellectual Property Lawyers in Palo Alto
1,183 verified ip attorneys in Palo Alto. IP attorneys protect inventions, brands, and creative work through patent prosecution, trademark registration, copyright, and trade-secret enforcement. Compare ip experience, read verified client reviews, and book a free consultation with local Palo Alto counsel — AttorneyQnA never charges clients to connect with an attorney.
Dianne Leigh Sweeney is a lawyer practicing litigation, antitrust and competition, corporate investigations and white collar defense and 6 other areas...
Marie Francoise Gilbert is a lawyer practicing artificial intelligence, big data & internet of things, data, privacy & cybersecurity, emerging technol...
Mr. Bryan James Sinclair is a lawyer practicing ip litigation, litigation, intellectual property law.
Gary James Edwards is a lawyer practicing intellectual property, intellectual property litigation, patent prosecution and 6 other areas of law. Gary r...
Atty. Liaoteng Wang is a lawyer practicing litigation, intellectual property litigation, international trade and 8 other areas of law.
Jeffrey Allan Baruh is a lawyer practicing litigation, business transactions, civil practice and 9 other areas of law. Jeffrey received a B.A. degree ...
Marina C. Tsatalis is a lawyer practicing employment law, labor & employment, intellectual property law.
Mr. Paul Lawrence Hickman is a lawyer practicing patents, trademarks, copyrights and 1 other area of law.
Steven Soong Baik is a lawyer practicing intellectual property, patent application, patent infringement and 1 other area of law. Steven received a B.S...
Atty. Karl John Kramer is a lawyer practicing patent infringement, intellectual property litigation, patent litigation and 13 other areas of law.
Richard Allan Horning is a lawyer practicing competition, antitrust litigation, intellectual property and 3 other areas of law. Richard received a B.A...
Elizabeth Rose French Monnet is a lawyer practicing technology and science, corporate law, intellectual property and 2 other areas of law. Elizabeth h...
James C. Pistorino is a lawyer practicing government/administrative, patent litigation.
James M. Chadwick is a lawyer practicing entertainment and digital media, intellectual property, copyrights and 11 other areas of law.
Robert H Sloss is a lawyer practicing asia-pacific cross-border, intellectual property, litigation, corporate and commercial and 3 other areas of law....
Harpreet Singh Walia is a lawyer practicing business litigation, business transactions, intellectual property litigation and 7 other areas of law. Har...
James Bruce McCubbrey is a lawyer practicing intellectual property, trademark application, copyright law and 2 other areas of law. James received a B....
Jennifer G. Redmond is a lawyer practicing healthcare, labor and employment, labor and employment counseling and 12 other areas of law.
Edward John Radlo is a lawyer practicing intellectual property law, intellectual property. Edward John received a B.S. degree from Massachusetts Insti...
James Mitchell Heslin is a lawyer practicing ip counseling & patents, intellectual property, life sciences and 3 other areas of law. James received a ...
Thomas Nicholas Makris is a lawyer practicing employment, employment advice & counseling, intellectual property and 6 other areas of law. Thomas recei...
Gary Heath Moore is a lawyer practicing internet, outsourcing, technology transactions and 2 other areas of law. Gary received a degree from Cambridge...
Dana Johannes Finberg is a lawyer practicing appellate advocacy, intellectual property and technology, litigation and 2 other areas of law. Dana recei...
Frank Steven Hiscox is a lawyer practicing intellectual property, intellectual property law. Frank received a B.A. degree from University of Californi...
Ashish Nagdev is a lawyer practicing intellectual property litigation, litigation, intellectual property law and 1 other area of law. Ashish received ...
Stanley Young is a lawyer practicing intellectual property, copyright, copyright litigation and 7 other areas of law. Stanley received a degree from H...
Gregory Paul O'Hara is a lawyer practicing antitrust and trade regulation, business law, estate planning and 15 other areas of law. Gregory received a...
Christopher David Banys is a lawyer practicing civil litigation, intellectual property, personal injury and 2 other areas of law. Christopher received...
Raymond Louis Wheeler is a lawyer practicing employment & labor, litigation, class actions and 7 other areas of law. Raymond received a B.A. degree fr...
Thomas Edward Ciotti is a lawyer practicing clean technology & alternative energy, patent counseling & prosecution, emerging companies & venture capit...
Joseph Michael Berkowitz is a lawyer practicing corporate & incorporation, healthcare, intellectual property and 7 other areas of law. Joseph received...
Stanton Daniel Wong is a lawyer practicing corporate law, securities law, technology and science and 5 other areas of law. Stanton received a A.B. deg...
Jerry Voight is a lawyer practicing patents, patent interference practice, chemical intellectual property and 3 other areas of law. Jerry received a B...
Brooke Oliver is a lawyer practicing intellectual property, art, nonprofits and 5 other areas of law. Brooke received a B.S. degree from University of...
John Richardson Storella is a lawyer practicing biotechnology, intellectual property law, law practice mgmt and 1 other area of law. John received a A...
Terry W Ahearn is a lawyer practicing intellectual property law, patent litigation, cybersecurity and technology and 1 other area of law. Terry receiv...
Um Ping Peter Eng is a lawyer practicing intellectual property, patent, trademark and 4 other areas of law. Um received a B.S.E. degree from Tufts Uni...
David Harrison Kramer is a lawyer practicing intellectual property litigation, internet law, privacy law and 2 other areas of law. David received a B....
Kara Beth Hagen is a lawyer practicing business, intellectual property. Kara received a B.S. degree from University of Illinois in 1996, and has been ...
Thomas J. Nolan is a lawyer practicing criminal law, business crimes law, high technology law and 7 other areas of law.
Maureen Susan Dorney is a lawyer practicing business, privacy law, intellectual property law. Maureen received a A.B. degree from University of Califo...
Lawrence Calof is a lawyer practicing securities, mergers, acquisitions and divestitures, intellectual property and 4 other areas of law. Lawrence rec...
Stephen Cassidy Neal is a lawyer practicing securities litigation, itc section 337 litigation, fcpa and 7 other areas of law. Stephen received a A.B. ...
Tarek Nihad Fahmi is a lawyer practicing intellectual property law. Tarek received a degree from University of Saskatchewan, College of Engineering in...
Bryant C. Boren, Jr. is a lawyer practicing patent application, trademark application, complex business litigation and 3 other areas of law.
Ms. Christina Lorraine Kloes is a lawyer practicing intellectual property, environmental and natural resources, international law and 2 other areas of...
David Bohrer is a lawyer practicing divorce, asset protection, business start-ups and 12 other areas of law. David received a B.A. degree from Stanfor...
Jean Burke Fordis is a lawyer practicing intellectual property law. Jean received a B.A. degree from California State University in 1978, and has been...
Mr. Vernon Alan Norviel is a lawyer practicing ip counseling & patents, ip litigation, global generics and 5 other areas of law.
Vernon Henry Granneman is a lawyer practicing litigation, erisa litigation, information law & electronic discovery and 7 other areas of law. Vernon re...
Neal James Stephens is a lawyer practicing white collar crime, business litigation, intellectual property litigation. Neal received a B.A. degree from...
Jon Michaelson is a lawyer practicing ip litigation, commercial disputes, international arbitration and 4 other areas of law. Jon received a B.A. degr...
Jerald E Rosenblum is a lawyer practicing corporate & securities - technology, emerging growth, corporate & securities and 7 other areas of law. Jeral...
Tyler Mark Paetkau is a lawyer practicing appellate law services, class actions, hospitality and 5 other areas of law. Tyler received a B.A. degree fr...
Cameron Gardner Stout is a lawyer practicing banking law, class action litigation, financial services and 11 other areas of law. Cameron received a A....
Stephen Max Wurzburg is a lawyer practicing corporate & securities - technology, emerging growth, china and 8 other areas of law. Stephen received a B...
John Whitman Crittenden is a lawyer practicing trademark, copyright & advertising, intellectual property and 6 other areas of law. John received a A.B...
David Sidney Steuer is a lawyer practicing ip litigation, business litigation & counseling, consumer litigation and 7 other areas of law. David receiv...
Gary Lee Benton is a lawyer practicing corporate law, intellectual property law, international business and 7 other areas of law. Gary received a degr...
Robert Lee Jones is a lawyer practicing medical devices, life sciences, life sciences corporate partnering & licensing and 6 other areas of law. Rober...
What is Intellectual Property?
Intellectual Property is the branch of law that governs the rights, obligations, and disputes that arise within its subject matter. In the United States, intellectual property sits at the intersection of statutes enacted by Congress, the regulations issued by federal agencies, the laws passed by all fifty state legislatures, and the body of judge-made decisions known as the common law. Because every state writes its own version of the rules, the way intellectual property works in one jurisdiction can look noticeably different from how it works in another, and that is one of the main reasons attorneys in this area focus their practice geographically — to stay fluent in the local statutes, court rules, and judicial preferences that shape outcomes.
At a practical level, Intellectual Property attorneys spend their time on three categories of work. The first is advice and prevention: counselling clients on how to structure transactions, draft documents, and conduct business so that legal risk is minimised before a dispute ever begins. The second is transactional execution: producing the contracts, filings, notices, and registrations that the law actually requires to make a decision legally binding. The third is contested representation: defending or pursuing a client's interests when a dispute escalates to negotiation, regulatory enforcement, arbitration, or litigation in court.
The clients who hire Intellectual Property lawyers range from individuals navigating a single life event to multinational corporations with complex regulatory exposure. What unifies them is the need for an experienced lawyer who knows the relevant code sections, has appeared in the relevant courts, and can translate the strategic options into language a client can act on. AttorneyQnA currently lists 1,183 verified intellectual property attorneys across the United States, each with a public profile showing their bar admissions, years in practice, and the kinds of matters they have handled — with the deepest concentration of practitioners in California.
When do you need an Intellectual Property attorney?
Most people contact an intellectual property lawyer for one of two reasons: something is about to happen that they want done correctly the first time, or something has gone wrong and they need it fixed before it gets worse. The earlier you involve counsel, the more options you usually have, and the lower the cost of getting to a resolution tends to be. The scenarios below are the ones we see most often on AttorneyQnA from prospective clients searching for intellectual property representation.
Once your signature is on a contract, settlement, lease, or release, your bargaining leverage drops sharply. A short pre-signature review by an intellectual property lawyer is the cheapest insurance you can buy.
Cease-and-desist letters, regulatory notices, and demand letters all start clocks. Missing the response window can convert a manageable problem into a default judgment or formal enforcement action.
Statutes of limitations, filing windows, and appeal periods are jurisdictional — courts cannot extend them as a favour. If you can identify a date that matters, you need a lawyer before that date arrives.
The moment opposing counsel appears, the conversation moves out of normal English and into procedural language. Continuing unrepresented usually means losing ground you cannot recover later.
Forming an entity, choosing a venue, structuring a deal, or selecting a remedy each has long-term consequences. A consultation at the planning stage is far cheaper than redoing it after the fact.
Multi-state matters bring conflict-of-laws questions that change which statutes apply and which court has authority. An attorney licensed in the right jurisdiction is not optional.
If any of the situations above describes where you are right now, the next step is a focused consultation. Use the Ask a Lawyer tool for short written questions, or browse the 1,183 intellectual property attorneys listed above to book a paid consultation directly.
How to choose an Intellectual Property attorney
The single biggest factor in choosing an intellectual property lawyer is fit with your specific matter. A lawyer with twenty years of intellectual property experience but no exposure to your particular sub-issue can easily be a worse choice than a five-year associate who has handled the same problem repeatedly. We recommend running every prospective lawyer through the same five-step checklist before signing an engagement letter.
- Bar admission in the correct jurisdiction. Confirm the lawyer is admitted in the state — and where relevant, the federal district — where your matter sits. The lawyer's profile on AttorneyQnA shows every bar admission on file, and the underlying state bar's "lawyer lookup" tool will confirm active standing in under a minute.
- Direct experience with your fact pattern. Ask plainly: "How many matters like mine have you handled in the last three years, and how did they resolve?" An honest answer reveals more than years-in-practice alone.
- A written fee agreement. Whether hourly, flat fee, contingent, or hybrid, the engagement letter should specify what is included, what triggers additional charges, and how disputes are handled. Avoid lawyers who resist writing the terms down.
- Communication cadence. Decide upfront how often you expect updates, who your day-to-day contact will be, and what response time is reasonable. The number-one complaint filed with state bar grievance committees is not malpractice — it is non-communication.
- Conflict check + reputation pulse. Make sure the lawyer has run a formal conflict check, then spend ten minutes reading independent reviews and any public disciplinary history. The state bar's website is authoritative for the second; the lawyer's AttorneyQnA profile collects the first.
Once you have a shortlist, schedule consultations with two or three. Lawyers vary widely in temperament, and the right strategic match for your case is sometimes the second or third lawyer you meet — not the first.
How much does an Intellectual Property lawyer cost?
Legal fees in the United States are not regulated by a uniform schedule, so what you pay an intellectual property lawyer depends on the billing model the lawyer offers, the complexity of your matter, and the local market. There are four billing structures used in this practice area; most engagements use one, but hybrid arrangements are increasingly common.
1. Hourly billing
The default model for most non-contingent matters. Rates for intellectual property attorneys in the U.S. typically range from $150–$250/hour in smaller markets to $400–$700/hour in major metropolitan areas, with senior partners at large firms commanding $900/hour and above. Hourly billing is fairest when the scope of work is genuinely unpredictable, but it creates an incentive structure that the client has to monitor.
2. Flat fee
Increasingly used for well-defined transactions — incorporations, will drafting, single-issue filings, uncontested matters. A flat fee tells you exactly what the deliverable will cost, and the lawyer absorbs the risk of unexpected complexity. Ask whether the flat fee includes filing fees, third-party costs, and any post-filing follow-up.
3. Contingency
Where it is permitted by the rules of professional conduct — most often in plaintiff-side intellectual property work involving monetary recovery — the lawyer is paid a percentage of the proceeds, typically 33% before suit is filed and 40% after. The client pays nothing if there is no recovery. Contingency fees align the lawyer's economics with yours, but the percentage compounds across time, so very strong cases sometimes do better on hourly billing.
4. Retainer / subscription
A monthly fee that buys a defined block of access or hours. This is common for businesses with ongoing intellectual property needs — contract review, employee questions, regulatory check-ins. A subscription smooths out spending and gives the lawyer a reason to know your operation in depth.
Whichever model you choose, ask for an itemised written estimate before the engagement begins, and ask explicitly what is not covered. Surprise expenses are the most common source of attorney-client friction.
Frequently asked questions about intellectual property
How quickly can an intellectual property lawyer review my matter?
Most lawyers can schedule an initial consultation within 1–3 business days. Urgent matters — pending deadlines, time-sensitive notices, court-ordered hearings — should be flagged in your first message; many lawyers reserve emergency consultation slots for that reason. If you need a written answer faster, the Ask a Lawyer tool typically returns answers in under 24 hours.
Do I need a intellectual property lawyer in my exact city, or anywhere in my state?
Bar admission is the controlling rule: any attorney licensed in your state can represent you in that state's courts and agencies, regardless of which city they're based in. Practical proximity still matters for in-person meetings, local court familiarity, and access to the local bench and bar. For state-level filings and remote-friendly matters, an attorney elsewhere in the same state often works fine.
Will an initial consultation cost me anything?
Many intellectual property attorneys offer a free 15- to 30-minute initial consultation; others charge a flat consultation fee that may be credited against the engagement if you hire them. The lawyer's profile lists the consultation policy. Free does not always mean better — a fee-based consultation is sometimes the sign of a lawyer who treats their time, and yours, seriously.
What documents should I bring to the first meeting?
Bring every contract, notice, letter, filing, or written communication connected to the matter; a written timeline of events with dates; the names and contact details of every other party involved; and any deadlines or hearing dates you are already aware of. Even an incomplete file is more useful than a verbal summary alone.
Can I change lawyers if I am not happy with mine?
Yes. Clients can discharge their lawyer at any time, for any reason, by written notice. Your case file belongs to you and must be transferred to your new counsel. Any unpaid fees through the date of discharge remain owed; any unearned advance must be refunded. If you are mid-litigation, the court typically must approve the substitution, but approval is routine.
How long does an typical intellectual property matter take?
It depends almost entirely on whether the matter is transactional or contested. A transactional matter — a contract, a filing, a single-step transaction — can resolve in days to weeks. A contested matter — anything involving disputed facts, court intervention, or regulatory action — typically takes months at minimum, and complex cases can run multiple years. Your lawyer should give you a realistic outside estimate at intake.
Are intellectual property lawyer fees tax-deductible?
It depends on the nature of the matter and current tax law. Fees connected to producing or collecting taxable income, managing investment property, or operating a business are often deductible; fees for personal matters generally are not. Because rules change, confirm deductibility with a tax professional for the year in which the fees are paid.
What is the difference between intellectual property and the related practice areas?
Intellectual Property overlaps with several adjacent areas — see the related-practice-area grid below for direct links. Choosing the right lawyer often means picking the one whose primary focus matches the heart of your problem, even if multiple labels could technically apply. When you are unsure, list your situation in your own words to two lawyers from neighbouring areas and ask which one of them is the better fit; honest lawyers will tell you.
Find intellectual property attorneys by state
Each state link below opens the intellectual property roster for that jurisdiction, with the local statute of limitations, court-system overview, and verified attorneys.
Intellectual Property Law Firms
Main Law Firm
Winter Park
Walton Law Firm
San Marcos
Bruner Law Firm
Fort Walton Beach
J&Y Law Firm
Los Angeles
West Law Firm
Charleston
John T. Floyd Law Firm
Houston
Intellectual Property by State
All states →Find intellectual property attorneys in every US state. Each state link opens a hub with verified attorneys, the state filing deadline, and a free attorney match.