by Mike Oliver | Nov 18, 2019 | Firm Matters
On November 12th, 2019, Oliver & Grimsley welcomed a new member to the trademark team – Associate Attorney Jennifer Mumm. Jennifer is coming to us after spending four years working at Stern & Eisenberg, PC. There, her focus was mainly on real estate law – supervising paralegals, corresponding with clients, and reviewing titles for properties.
As our firm grows, we hope to address our client’s needs proactively. Jennifer will be assisting with reviewing and filing trademark applications, providing legal insight to clients, and taking the necessary actions to ensure all client’s intellectual property rights.
We extend a very homely welcome to Jennifer and look forward to working with her.
by Mike Oliver | May 1, 2019 | Firm Matters
Another year passes as quickly as the last – it seems they come and go more rapidly the older we become. Kim and I embarked on this adventure 6 years ago to the day – literally, it was a Wednesday – a typical work day for most people. Back then it was nothing even close to a regular work day for us. Looking forward back then there were a lot of unknowns – office space, staff needs, what clients would come with us?, what software would we use?, what 401k provider, payroll processing, accountant, insurance firms? and on and on . . . it was one thing after another we forgot or did not realize or had to scramble to fix. By us going through all the pain of a true new business startup it has helped us understand the obstacles and issues faced by our most typical client, the entrepreneur.
Six years in, of course, all of that uncertainty is gone, we have firm operations down to a science so to speak, and at this point we are just tweaking and making small adjustments. Our practice has grown but not in giant increments, more in steady increments (our trademark practice has grown significantly however). Our goal has never been growth, but rather finding ways to be as responsive as we can to clients, who ever more frequently want faster and more efficient service.
While we do not set formal goals, every year we look forward and back and see what we did well and not so well, and ask how can we improve in the future to do more things better, and avoid our past mistakes. This has been a challenge because our practice focus – intellectual property, data privacy and security, and corporate law all change as fast as technology is changing. It is just a lot of work.
Rapid legal changes and our general workload explains why we have been busy working, and not really able to do much in the way of blogging, marketing or sending email newsletters. Our patent practice, however, has recently opened a new site at www.baltimorepatent.com where we will make an effort to post more content in the patent law area to help our clients and referral sources better understand the benefits and costs of securing patents.
We again thank all of our clients, referral sources, employees and our family and friends – without all of you we could not have made it this far, and without you we would have no future. We truly do look forward to many years to come helping our clients navigate in these complex and challenging areas of law.
by Mike Oliver | May 3, 2018 | Firm Matters, Office, Office News
Our team at Oliver & Grimsley, LLC recently celebrated our 5 year anniversary at Basignani Winery in Sparks, Maryland.
The owners, Bert and Lynne Basignani, opened the winery in 1986. Having grown now to three vineyards, Basignani Winery features a variety of dry red and white wines as well as deliciously sweet wines. 
We enjoyed our anniversary celebration in the winery’s outdoor pavilion and patio area while enjoying a lovely view of the vineyards. The winery host events throughout the year such as Pizza Class, Friday Night Cafe (featuring live music), and Movie Night, and is open Wednesdays to Sundays for wine tastings, from 11:30am to 5:30pm.
A special thank you to Bert and Lynne Basignani for allowing us to host our special event at the winery and for letting us enjoy Basignani Maryland wine!
by Mike Oliver | May 1, 2018 | Firm Matters
5 years ago today Kim and I started this firm. It is a cliche to say “it seems like just yesterday” – but time spent being as busy as we have been has a funny way of making the cliche a reality, and so it has become a truism!
I thought about listing our accomplishments here . . . but a 5th year anniversary is a time for less marketing and more introspection.
In that vein – I sometimes think whether, knowing what I know and have learned over the last 5 years, I would ever tell someone to try and do what we have done. When I was younger (14) I had to meet with an attorney – and my mother told him I wanted to be a lawyer (this was not true, in fact I wanted to be in a profession that had a code of ethics, but I digress…) and he was very negative and advised me not to do it, and said I would be miserable. Now, I think he was miserable because he just did not like his job and probably that was because he was dealing with clients in distress all day long (divorce). The lesson I learned that day however was never to try and dissuade someone from a path just because I personally would think it ill advised or to be a poor choice for me. Always look from the perspective of the person you are working with or advising – what do they want? what are their goals? So, I would never tell anyone not to start their own firm – but I would say that when you reflect on why you choose a path, the reason has to be a genuine one or you probably will fail, or be miserable, or both.
In my mind Kim and I started the firm primarily for two reasons – and here comes cliche number 2 – because we genuinely care about our clients, and because we wanted to work in a positive family oriented and family friendly working environment. And that is how we measure success – do we provide a positive benefit to our clients and do we provide a good work environment for our staff? By those measures we have been very successful. We love working with small business owners, inventors, creators and entrepreneurs and helping them succeed, and many of our clients have been very successful, and we are very grateful to have played even a small role in that success. And we are looking forward to the future now, having just renewed our lease for another 5 years.
So, were someone to be about to embark on a similar adventure as we have, I would say to them – if you start with the right motives, and you genuinely have an interest in helping others, then by all means, starting a new law firm is a grand adventure and I highly recommend it!
We also again want to thank and express our sincere gratitude to all the people – family, clients, our friends and everyone who has done us the great favor and honor of referring us work – without you we would not have made it the first 5 years – and we will still need your support and assistance for the next 5 years. We feel very lucky to have the clients and practice we have and are very grateful to everyone who has helped us and we look forward to the future.
Very truly yours, Mike, Kim, Pamela, Larry, Tina, Karri and Malissa – the team at Oliver & Grimsley, LLC
by Mike Oliver | Nov 14, 2017 | Firm Matters
The greatest compliment we receive are referrals from other lawyers, professionals and clients. Those are the most meaningful recognition in our view. However, a whole industry of “legal awards” has grown up in our profession, and each year it grows in apparent importance to younger lawyers entering the professions, and even more veteran lawyers. So we here again present some of the awards for which we have recently been recognized. For the 5th year in a row, and for all years of our small firm’s existence, we are again honored to receive recognition for 2018 as a US News and World Reports Best Law Firm in many areas, including Tier 1 in Baltimore for Copyright Law and Information Technology Law and a national ranking for Information Technology Law. In addition, we are pleased to report that Michael D. Oliver has been recognized as US News and World Reports Lawyer of the Year (Baltimore) for 2018 in the field of Copyright Law. Mike has previously been named Lawyer of the Year in Baltimore as follows: 2016 – Information Technology Law, 2015 – Trademark Law, 2014 – Copyright Law and 2012 – Trademark Law. The Lawyer of the Year recognition is made for only one lawyer in a specified field and geographic area.
by Mike Oliver | May 1, 2017 | Firm Matters
We again want to thank and express our sincere gratitude to all of our clients, referring sources and the many friends and family that have helped us along the way.
It was 4 years ago today that we started our firm. A lot has happened in those four years – we started just Kim and Mike, and have brought on three lawyers and three staff (and we are still looking for another lawyer) as part of our work family. Our trademark practice has grown exponentially. We have successfully applied and had issued many patents including patents that have overcome the harsh Alice Corp Supreme Court case. We have helped many clients buy and sell businesses – in an estimated total of over $100 million dollars across all deals. We have also done some pro bono publico cases where we feel our talents can assist those in need, though we want to do more in the future.
We feel very lucky to have the clients and practice we have and are very grateful to everyone who has helped us. We hope that we can be a continuing part of your success in business in the years to come.
Very truly yours, the team at Oliver & Grimsley, LLC
