Empress Legal

Directions Website

Empress Legal Legal Operations + IP Operations support for law firms, attorneys & legal teams.

Workflow optimization, training, process improvement, and patent & trademark support. At Empress Legal, we believe that the legal profession doesn’t have to be a cut-throat, winner-take-all environment. Instead, we are committed to using our legal expertise to build strong communities, encourage restorative justice, and create change that will last for generations. We specialize in providing B2B services to solo practitioners, boutique law firms, and new start-ups alike. Whether you need help launching your law firm, managing day-to-day operations, training new staff, or establishing a culture of integrity and open communication, we have the expertise and resources you need to become assist in building strong relationships throughout your community.

You probably have one sitting somewhere in your house.A plain brown paper grocery bag.But the familiar flat-bottomed bag...
09/30/2026

You probably have one sitting somewhere in your house.

A plain brown paper grocery bag.

But the familiar flat-bottomed bag has a patent history stretching back more than 150 years.

Margaret E. Knight worked around paper-bag manufacturing and saw a problem she believed machinery could solve. She developed a machine capable of cutting and folding paper to produce flat-bottomed bags.

In 1871, Knight received U.S. Patent No. 116,842 for an improvement in paper-bag machines.

And she kept inventing.

In 1879, she received U.S. Patent No. 220,925 for another improvement involving the mechanisms used to fold and paste the bottoms of the bags.

Her work mattered.

The Smithsonian, which preserves a patent model of Knight’s later machine, notes that her concept continues to be used in manufacturing the paper grocery bags we know today.

I love patent stories like this because the finished invention doesn’t look extraordinary anymore.

That is precisely the point.

Successful inventions can become so integrated into everyday life that eventually we stop seeing the invention at all.

We just see a paper bag.

Margaret E. Knight | Paper-Bag Machines | 1871 & 1879

This is what intellectual property legal operations looked like in 1894.The Black man standing second from the right is ...
09/24/2026

This is what intellectual property legal operations looked like in 1894.

The Black man standing second from the right is Lewis Howard Latimer.

Many people know Latimer as an inventor or as the Black man who “helped Thomas Edison.” But that description leaves out an important part of his career.

Latimer was also a patent draftsman, engineer, patent investigator, technical expert, and intellectual property professional.

This photograph shows him with the staff of the “experts’ office” in General Electric Company’s legal department. His work included patent investigations, technical information, patent-related matters, and serving as an expert witness in patent disputes.

More than 130 years later, the tools and titles have changed, but the work behind intellectual property still matters.

Patent attorneys and agents do not work alone. Docketing professionals, paralegals, technical specialists, administrators, and legal operations professionals help keep the entire operation moving.

That work is not peripheral to intellectual property. It is part of what makes intellectual property practice possible.

Lewis Latimer was doing versions of that work more than a century ago.

Empress Legal | Intellectual Property Legal Operations

Photo: Lewis H. Latimer, second from right, with staff of the “experts’ office,” Legal Department, General Electric Company, 1894. Courtesy of the U.S. National Park Service. Public domain.

A process does not have to be complicated before it deserves documentation.If it happens repeatedly, involves a deadline...
09/24/2026

A process does not have to be complicated before it deserves documentation.

If it happens repeatedly, involves a deadline, requires multiple handoffs, depends on specific knowledge, or creates a meaningful problem when done incorrectly, it is worth considering.

Documentation can be as simple as a checklist or decision tree.

The right amount of documentation is the amount people will actually use.

Showing someone which button to click is not the same as teaching them the work.Strong legal training explains the proce...
09/22/2026

Showing someone which button to click is not the same as teaching them the work.

Strong legal training explains the process around the task.

Why are we doing this? What information matters? What happens next? What should trigger a question? What can go wrong?

When people understand the reason behind the procedure, they are much better prepared for the matter that does not follow the procedure perfectly.

You probably used windshield wipers the last time you drove in the rain without giving them much thought.More than 120 y...
09/20/2026

You probably used windshield wipers the last time you drove in the rain without giving them much thought.

More than 120 years ago, keeping the glass in front of a vehicle operator clear during bad weather was a problem someone still needed to solve.

Mary Anderson developed a window-cleaning device that could be operated from inside the vehicle. Her patent describes a mechanism designed to sweep across the glass and remove rain, snow and sleet while maintaining contact with the window. She filed her application on June 18, 1903, and U.S. Patent No. 743,801 was granted on November 10 of that year.

What is ordinary technology to us today was once an invention that had to be conceived, developed, described and protected.

That is why I enjoy going back through the patent record. It allows us to see familiar objects at the moment when they were still new ideas.

We are beginning a new series at Empress Legal called Patent Stories. We will be exploring interesting inventions, historic patent drawings, unexpected patents, inventors and the innovation behind objects and technologies we encounter every day.

We are starting with Mary Anderson.

U.S. Patent No. 743,801 | Window-Cleaning Device | 1903

There are few phrases more optimistic in IP operations than:“It should be a quick filing.”Sometimes it is.Sometimes the ...
09/18/2026

There are few phrases more optimistic in IP operations than:

“It should be a quick filing.”

Sometimes it is.

Sometimes the signature is missing, the attachment changed, the entity information needs attention, and the portal has decided today is the day to develop a personality.

Experienced IP professionals plan for both possibilities.

When the same matter is being tracked in email, a spreadsheet, a docketing system, someone’s personal notes, and a share...
09/16/2026

When the same matter is being tracked in email, a spreadsheet, a docketing system, someone’s personal notes, and a shared drive, the question eventually becomes: Which version is right?

Not every tool has to disappear.

But teams benefit from deciding where authoritative information lives and what each system is responsible for holding.

Multiple tools can work together.

Multiple competing truths usually do not.

IP professionals know there is no such thing as “just a quick filing.” 😂It starts innocently enough.“This should be pret...
09/16/2026

IP professionals know there is no such thing as “just a quick filing.” 😂

It starts innocently enough.

“This should be pretty straightforward.”

Then the signature is missing, the entity information needs to be updated, one attachment is the wrong version, someone has a question that changes everything, and the filing portal has apparently decided it would also like to participate in the matter.

Meanwhile, the deadline is sitting there minding its business.

Patent and trademark professionals, what other phrase immediately makes you suspicious?

A workflow can only be as clear as the information entering it.If a legal request arrives without the information needed...
09/14/2026

A workflow can only be as clear as the information entering it.

If a legal request arrives without the information needed to evaluate, assign, or complete it, the team immediately starts chasing details.

A thoughtful intake process does not need to be complicated.

It needs to collect the right information, route the request appropriately, and make ownership clear from the beginning.

Before assuming a legal team needs more people, it can be useful to look at what is consuming the capacity it already ha...
09/14/2026

Before assuming a legal team needs more people, it can be useful to look at what is consuming the capacity it already has.

How much time goes to finding information, following up, entering the same data more than once, checking status, or manually moving work from one person to the next?

Sometimes additional staffing is the answer. Sometimes the workflow itself is quietly using hours that could be spent on higher-value work.

The first step is understanding where the time actually goes.

Address

Ocotillo Road
Queen Creek, AZ

Opening Hours

Monday 9am - 5pm

Website

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when Empress Legal posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Shortcuts

Share

Category