"Speak clearly, if you speak at all; carve every word, before you let it fall."

 - Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes 

This sage advice, offered by Justice Holmes about a century ago, matches Bob's approach to drafting and prosecuting patent applications. An effective patent attorney and advocate must persuade an examiner to allow a patent application via his/her prose.

Bob takes pride in the quality of his writing and other communication, for which he received numerous awards as a journalist and which led to his commission as a patent-drafting instructor and co-author of a patent-drafting workbook by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). More recently, Bob was also a recognized contributor to the WIPO Patent Drafting Manual, 2d Edition. Bob’s love of teaching patent law also led him to lecture on patent law at Harvard University.

Before founding Modern Times Legal in 2007, Bob was trained in legal analysis and writing at Duke University School of Law and benefited from eleven years of consistent immersion in patent law practice, both in a mid-size patent specialty firm and in a large international general-practice firm. Before that, Bob earned an engineering degree with high honors from Clemson University and conducted research at Argonne National Laboratory in the fields of ceramic superconductors and high-strength composites and where his work on high-temperature superconductors was recognized with a Laboratory Director’s Award.

Bob enjoys riding his bicycle to work year-round and rarely drives.