Do corporate lawyers matter? Evidence from patents

Dimitris Andriosopoulos; Pawel Czarnowski; Andrew Marshall

doi:10.1016/j.jcorpfin.2023.102473

Do corporate lawyers matter? Evidence from patents

Dimitris Andriosopoulos, Pawel Czarnowski, Andrew Marshall

Accounting And Finance

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Abstract

Patent attorneys are responsible for obtaining patents that bring the highest expected profits for their corporate clients. We investigate the role of patent attorney capability in determining the value of corporate patents. We find that a one standard deviation increase in legal expertise leads to a 0.04% rise in patents’ market valuation and a 3% increase in citations. This finding holds irrespective of the number of patents obtained by patent attorneys to date (process experience). To establish causality, we exploit a novel shock: the opening of new regional patent offices in the US; and changes in a firm’s patent attorney. Overall, we find that capable patent attorneys matter as they increase both the economic and technological value of corporate patents.

Original language	English
Article number	102473
Number of pages	29
Journal	Journal of Corporate Finance
Volume	83
Early online date	1 Sept 2023
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcorpfin.2023.102473
Publication status	Published - 31 Dec 2023

Keywords

patent attorney
patent value
innovation
patent citations
shareholder wealth
USPTO
patent litigation

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Do lawyers matter? Evidence from patents
Andriosopoulos, D., Czarnowski, P. & Marshall, A. P., 15 Feb 2022, (Submitted) Amsterdam, 61 p.
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title = "Do corporate lawyers matter? Evidence from patents",

abstract = "Patent attorneys are responsible for obtaining patents that bring the highest expected profits for their corporate clients. We investigate the role of patent attorney capability in determining the value of corporate patents. We find that a one standard deviation increase in legal expertise leads to a 0.04% rise in patents{\textquoteright} market valuation and a 3% increase in citations. This finding holds irrespective of the number of patents obtained by patent attorneys to date (process experience). To establish causality, we exploit a novel shock: the opening of new regional patent offices in the US; and changes in a firm{\textquoteright}s patent attorney. Overall, we find that capable patent attorneys matter as they increase both the economic and technological value of corporate patents. ",

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AB - Patent attorneys are responsible for obtaining patents that bring the highest expected profits for their corporate clients. We investigate the role of patent attorney capability in determining the value of corporate patents. We find that a one standard deviation increase in legal expertise leads to a 0.04% rise in patents’ market valuation and a 3% increase in citations. This finding holds irrespective of the number of patents obtained by patent attorneys to date (process experience). To establish causality, we exploit a novel shock: the opening of new regional patent offices in the US; and changes in a firm’s patent attorney. Overall, we find that capable patent attorneys matter as they increase both the economic and technological value of corporate patents.

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KW - patent value

KW - innovation

KW - patent citations

KW - shareholder wealth

KW - USPTO

KW - patent litigation

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Do corporate lawyers matter? Evidence from patents

Abstract

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Do lawyers matter? Evidence from patents

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