Helping businesses protect ideas, inventions a science for Michael Best’s Gigot

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Steve Gigot was an engineer at a manufacturing facility when he noticed jobs were disappearing. So he took a job as an engineer at a law firm, evaluating situations such as rollovers to determine what might have happened.

“One day an attorney said to me that I should consider becoming a patent attorney. I was able to shadow one and thought it would be something I would enjoy,” said Gigot, chair of the IP practice group at Michael Best & Friedrich. “I went to law school and never looked back.”

Gigot found patent law was a good fit for his personality and work style.

“It just really suits me. I enjoy how I get to meet with clients when they are at a very exciting moment in their business since they have something new they are looking to protect,” he said. “I enjoy helping them to develop their strategy as they move forward. I’m also a little bit of a geek and it’s cool to see the new things being developed.”

Patent attorneys need to have a science background and Gigot’s previous career as a manufacturing engineer comes in handy.

“Clients appreciate their attorney can grasp the ideas and new technology quickly,” he said. “They also want someone to be excited about what they’re doing.”

As businesses innovate and develop new ideas and products, it is vital to defend their space in the market, Gigot said. Sometimes that means filing a patent, but not always.

“You need to strategize what is the best path to follow,” Gigot said. “Sometimes that is thinking offensively, while other times it is thinking defensively.”

Gigot enjoys getting to know his clients and their businesses and has worked with several for many years.

“That longevity with clients helps you better understand their business and goals,” he said.

It’s also important to understand the competition facing his clients, said Gigot, adding that right now the biggest challenge facing many of his clients is patent trolls.

“They come in and threaten the business and it can be very disruptive,” he said. “There’s a lot of pressure on businesses. They are watching foreign markets and dealing with patent trolls while developing their own portfolio. My job is to make that as easy as possible.

Wisconsin Law Journal: What makes your work important to you?
Steve Gigot: The engineer in me enjoys seeing new technology before anyone else. Of course there is a cost to product development and a lot of effort goes into commercializing new technology. If companies invest in product development and their competitors simply copy their developments, those companies investing in product development will not survive. My job is to protect that investment in product development. I have known many of our clients’ engineers for long enough to understand why that is important.

WLJ: Who is your hero in the legal field?
Gigot: Without a doubt, it’s (Michael Best’s) Rob Mulcahy. He isn’t just a brilliant practitioner. He is always willing to take time to answer a question or to give advice or support a colleague. He’s been involved with his community for his entire career, served on dozens of charitable boards, developed a nationally recognized practice and is one of the best client counselors I’ve ever met. He is also an excellent father, husband, and grandfather. We all know that’s a hard balance to achieve. I am honored to call him a friend and a partner.

WLJ: What do you do outside of work to deal with stress from the office?
Gigot: It doesn’t matter if we are kayaking, sailing, playing on the beach, tubing or trying in vain to catch fish, my wife and I and our two daughters are happiest at Elkhart Lake.

WLJ: What’s one thing many people get wrong about what you do?
Gigot: If I’m doing my job right I’m doing more for my clients than simply getting patents for their inventions. A patent is a business tool, and it isn’t always the best or most cost-effective tool for a particular business problem. Often the most valuable service I can provide is to help a client avoid infringing other company’s patents or help them to streamline their product development process.

WLJ: What’s your favorite memory from law school?
Gigot: When I was in law school I had an opportunity to intern for Judge Lynn Adelman of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin and the late Judge John Coffey of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit. I came in with no experience, but they both listened to my thoughts and opinions and really invested in mentoring me. I think it’s rare to find two people with their experience who will spend that kind of time with an intern.

WLJ: Is there a certain client emergency that stands out to you?
Gigot: A client approached us a few years ago and explained that they were going to disclose all design details, down to the last bolt and screw, of a product which had been developed over five years by a team of around 5,000 engineers and physicists. Over the next 11 days we developed an in-depth strategy and assembled an expert team to strategically protect the most important aspects of the design, including software, metallurgy, heat transfer, and material handing features in 47 separate patent applications. I’m not going to say I want to do that again anytime soon, but it’s nice to see every once in a while what you can accomplish, and it’s a lot more enjoyable when you can accomplish something like that as part of a team.