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Cislo & Thomas LLP strives to provide the highest quality intellectual property service for its clients based on a broad range of intellectual property perspectives. It does so by an overall methodology and program involving its attorneys, paralegals, and staff. This proprietary program is known as Quality Client Care® or QCC®. This program is applied during the entire client relationship from initial contact, performance of work requested, and subsequent follow-up. We consider our approach unique to our area.
The client is extensively cared for, understood and their directives implemented while considering the various types of intellectual property protection available, product or service lifecycle, and the client’s overall business considerations. For each new client, an attorney, paralegal and legal assistant are assigned to manage and care for all client activities, advice, and matters undertaken by Cislo & Thomas. We want to meet with our clients at our offices conveniently located in Santa Monica, Westlake Village or Santa Barbara, California to best understand their circumstances and how best we can protect their patent, trademark, copyright or other forms of intellectual property.
This means that first attention to the client is through the attorney, paralegal, and/or legal assistant primarily responsible for looking after the client’s interests. This starts with an introduction, either personally or by letter to the client conveying the retainer agreement and introducing them to their QCC® Team to ensure that all their client needs are met at all times. Incoming and outgoing communications are reviewed by at least two members of the team to insure quality at all times.
The second important feature of the QCC® Policy is that intellectual property professionals who have complete experience with clearance, counseling, prosecution, licensing, and litigation, work with the client to ensure that all aspects of their intellectual property needs are addressed, irrespective of the current state of the client’s intellectual property pursuits. Implementation to the client's business objectives should cover the entire spectrum of intellectual property protection.
A third component of the QCC® Policy is prompt response to all client communications and completion of requested projects. Whenever possible, we will dedicate ourselves to prompt turnaround, and all requested work projects are completed quickly upon engagement as needed by the client. All completion deadlines are closely tracked to ensure compliance.
A fourth component of the QCC® Policy is a series of client follow-up communications with regard to the client’s pending projects to report status or simply to check in with the client to make sure that their needs are being met. Such communications are usually instituted a month after services are rendered for a particular project or every three to six months while current matters are pending before the Patent, Copyright, or Trademark Offices, or the courts. Client communication or contact should take place not less than every 6 months either telephonically or by way of a report letter, if not more often depending upon existing circumstances.
Fifth, we provide accurate quotes for work to be performed and the QCC® Team will use their best efforts to keep costs in check. If additional amounts of money are necessary to complete the services performed, the client will be notified as soon as practicable.
A sixth component of the QCC® Policy is Cislo & Thomas’s electronic or hard copy newsletters sent to clients informing them about current intellectual property issues and related business concerns. These communications would occur not less frequent than every six months, but preferably on a quarterly basis.
The objective of Cislo & Thomas’s QCC® Policy is to institutionalize and ensure continued quality relationships with clients that protect their interests to the greatest extent possible over the full range of intellectual property issues. This approach has allowed the firm to achieve its top AV rating by Martindale-Hubble (the highest rating that can be achieved) and listed on the Bar Register of Preeminent Lawyers where fewer than 5% of all law firms nationwide qualify. Although we are best known for our patent and copyright work, we were recently named in the Top 50 Trademark Attorneys by Trademark Insider's Annual Report and a Top Patent Law Firm.
Few, if any firms, can offer this type of intellectual property service throughout Southern California for patent, trademark and copyright matters in Santa Monica, Westlake Village and Santa Barbara.
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