Our Patent & Trademark Attorneys

RPL is a full-service IP law firm for entrepreneurial businesses and startups. Meet the patent and trademark attorneys that make RPL great.

Our Attorneys

"When we talk about how valuable our team members are, Patrick and his team are at the top of the list.”
- Stacey and Guiliana, Co-Founders of Silikids, Inc. Read More

What to Expect

When working with RPL, you can expect to be treated with respect and kindness as we fulfill our mission to: (1) provide you the highest quality legal services; (2) nurture the growth of your business; and (3) educate you to make informed and beneficial decisions about your intellectual property.

Businesses take on the personality of their leaders. Knowing this, it is no surprise that RPL is known for treating its clients with genuine care and warmth. From your first contact with RPL, you should expect to be valued and heard. Although we face an overwhelming number of inquiries, we do our best to set up a time to communicate with each potential client to understand their needs and identify whether we are the appropriate firm to meet those needs. We are not the right fit for every potential client that reaches out to us, but if we aren’t, we try to help you understand why.

Once you have engaged with RPL on an intellectual property matter, you will see that each of our attorneys has the skills, the training, the mentoring, and the desire to provide the highest quality legal services. Internally, our attorneys are recognized and rewarded, not for the number of hours they bill, but by the strength of their client feedback.

One of the keys to RPL’s success has been the growth of our clients. But maybe more importantly, that’s what makes our work fulfilling. It is deeply satisfying, for example, to watch a startup client raise funds on a crowdfunding site, deliver the product to an enthusiastic customer base, and through continued hard work parlay that initial success into a licensing deal with a globally recognized brand just a few short years later. We’re not in IP law for the cool technology, it’s the human successes that motivate us. (Ok, some of our clients’ technology is a lot of fun too!)

Lastly, the RPL team takes pride in teaching our clients how to best use intellectual property rights to build and maintain value in their businesses. For example, it is more satisfying for our team to help you identify whether you should patent an invention, rather than simply whether you can patent the invention. We spend time with clients discussing the strategy for what assets to protect, how to protect them, why to protect them, and when to protect them. These conversations require us to understand your business and its objectives and for you to understand how you may benefit from taking action to secure your IP rights. You can expect RPL to invest in understanding your business and offering you strategies personally tailored to match your goals.

Firm History

About-FirmHistory

Richards Patent Law was founded in 2009 by Patrick Richards, a patent attorney and former partner from the Intellectual Property, Media, and Technology group of McDermott, Will & Emery. RPL started as a solo practice focused on serving the patent needs of small businesses and entrepreneurs. While established as a local practice in Chicago’s Roscoe Village neighborhood, RPL quickly drew a growing base of national and international clients.

In 2011, as RPL grew with the help of loyal clients and a team of talented contract attorneys, RPL moved its offices out of the north side Chicago neighborhood to a beautiful office space on the 84th floor in the Willis Tower, where the firm further benefited from the addition of an enthusiastic office support team.

Nearing four years of steady growth, RPL added its first full-time associate attorney in January 2013, a second in February, and a third that August. The addition of these three attorneys greatly expanded the horsepower of our legal team and enabled us to reach a larger number of clients and manage an even greater range of IP subject matter.

In 2014, RPL added an office manager whose broad range of skills furthered the expansion of the firm and set the stage for the addition of more experienced attorneys to join the firm in 2015, including Mark McKenna, a leading trademark scholar and attorney.

In 2019, RPL has grown to be a full-service intellectual property firm with a well-rounded team of five talented IP attorneys supported by a full complement of office management, paralegal, and docketing support. Leading up to our 10th anniversary, we have added our 1,000th client. Quite the accomplishment.

Our story doesn’t end here. Let us protect your intellectual property while you join us in our continued growth and success.