I was in law school and working. A new client was a startup by a very successful international trademark attorney. He had the idea to build a database and application to manage all the time critical tasks associated with registering and protecting trademarks in the 160 jurisdictions that recognized the rights.
The database would track renewal dates and other required filings. The geisco network would allow a client to find and engage with local agents. It was currently done by telex. This was 1982.
He paid for PSO and I was a tester etc. he asked me to join and I thought it would be a great way to leverage my technical expertise and my legal aspirations.
Our office was in the financial district. He was well connected. I took over the application to run for clients. I’d also join him on sales calls and meeting gs with investors. Abbot labs, sc Johnson, Beatrice foods, Coca Cola were all clients of his firm and were eager to try it.
I’d get boxes of fan fold paper and set on my desk. One hot summer night I missed my train so went back to office to sleep there. I opened an office window some 20 floors up… and when I opened the outer door to use restroom, the change in pressure pulled the paper out the window… fluttering like a giant flying paper serpent. Whoops.
He also had the idea to build a. Expert system that would help attorneys prioritize incoming case loads:
- Which cases required vigorous protection to avoid a negative precedence?
- Which cases would be best to settle as our rights were less firm?
- What would resources/billing cost be?
I programmed it and we presented to ABA. It was pretty cool.
I used VisiCalc to create the branching logic prototype.
I also wrote a program to convert telex to word processing documents. I had wordstar and an ibm xt.
Up till now, these attorneys dictated the filings and had legal secretaries complete the paperwork. It was labor intensive and lucrative as it was billed at hourly rates.
The new system, however, accomplished the bulk of the work for a few dollars. He found himself in the awkward position of funding a system that undermined his billings.
Take away: it’s virtually impossible to create and support a disruptive solution when you are invested in the status quo. I also saw this with premise based companies who also build cloud solutions.
More and more he went back to what he knew best… and spent less time on what we needed on the technology side.
It was a lucrative business but pretty administrative and boring to me.
A recruiter was looking for me: Arthur young was interested in me to help them with a McDonald’s engagement.
We parted ways:
and is my style, I don’t look back. Always forward.
A blog by Paul Petersen 
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