Congratulations to our new senior partner, Greg Lunn. The Cincinnati Business Courier met with Greg to discuss how technology is helping improve value in the intellectual property market.
New senior partner at one of Cincinnati’s biggest law firms: Industry changes are saving clients money
By Andy Brownfield – Reporter, Cincinnati Business Courier
Jan 29, 2016, 2:55pm EST
Updated Jan 29, 2016, 3:27pm
When Wood Herron & Evans’ new senior partner, Gregory Lunn, started practicing law in 1979, copy machines that could make more than one copy at a time was a big deal. The way technology has evolved has streamlined work done in the legal industry, and Lunn says that’s saving clients money.
Lunn was named the firm’s senior partner on Jan. 1. He succeeds Bob Chambers, who joined the firm in 1973. Chambers will continue on with the firm in an “of counsel” capacity.
Lunn’s expertise is in the areas of chemical patent prosecution and infringement evaluation. He received his juris doctor from the University of Kentucky College of Law.
Wood Herron & Evans is an intellectual property law firm and Cincinnati’s ninth-largest firm by local practicing attorneys with 59, according to Courier research. Lunn talked with me about how he has seen the industry change in his 37 years and what it’s like to be one of the region’s largest firms while maintaining a specialty niche.
How have you seen the industry change since 1979? Of course things have become much faster paced. I think people have tended to be a little more litigious than in the past. Litigation is not quite as friendly as it used to be. With respect to the actual practice of law itself, we can accomplish so much more than we did in 1979. Back in ’79 a copy machine that would produce multiple copies was a big deal. The fax machine had not been invented, certainly not the Internet.
What has that meant lawyers and their clients? I think it saves our clients a lot of money. There’s only 40 hours in a week, more or less, so our profitability I don’t think has been affected by it, but our clients get a whole lot more work for their dollar than they used to.
How have you seen the industry change locally since you got started? It has just gotten so much bigger. It used to be you knew everybody. We practice intellectual property law, and I can guarantee I’d know everyone in town for years and years. Today there are just so many more people. I’m always coming across people I didn’t know before. The firms have gotten so much bigger and we don’t see everyone.
What does it mean to be a larger firm but practice in only one area? We’re large enough to do everything and small enough to cater to our clients’ needs. And because we are solely IP, we can work with a number of other law firms’ clients when they don’t have their own IP section. A lawyer without their own IP section may not want to go to a general law firm with an intellectual property section for fear of losing a client.