Talent Acquisition to Provide New and Advanced Services

In the early 1970s, instead of only hiring attorneys fresh from law school, the firm began the practice of hiring promising scientists with Ph.D.s to help with the prosecution of the rapidly developing technologies of the time. Oblon became one of the first firms to develop a cadre of credentialed attorneys who knew the USPTO Patent Examiners and understood science and technology. In 1974, Arthur Neustadt joined the firm and began its litigation practice. By the late 1970s, the firm had established its European practice. In the 1980s, the firm’s ITC and interference practices became established. With enactment of the Hatch-Waxman Act, the firm’s life science practice helped companies address the challenges and opportunities presented by the new scheme for generic drugs.