The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Professional Approach, by
Charles Leonard Harness and Theodore Lockhard Thomas

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Title: The Professional Approach

Author: Charles Leonard Harness
Theodore Lockhard Thomas

Illustrator: Schoenherr

Release Date: December 15, 2007 [EBook #23872]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

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The
Professional
Approach

The trials of a patent lawyer are usually
highly technical tribulations--and among
the greatest is the fact that Inventors
are only slightly less predictable than
their Inventions!

by Leonard Lockhard

Illustrated by Schoenherr

"Sometimes," said Helix Spardleton, Esquire, "a patent case gets away
from you. As the attorney in the case, you never quite see it the same
as everybody else. You stand isolated and alone, unable to persuade the
Patent Examiners, the Board, the courts, possibly even the inventor, to
accept your view of the case. Nothing you do or say matches anyone
else's thinking, and you begin to wonder what's the matter with
everyone."

[Illustration]

I nodded. This was my favorite time of day. It was early evening in
Washington, D.C., and my boss, Helix Spardleton, patent attorney
extraordinary, was relaxing. His feet were up on one corner of his
desk, his cigar was in the Contemplation Position, and the smoke curled
slowly toward the ceiling. His office was a good room in which to relax.
It was filled with fine, old well-scratched furniture, and the walls
were lined with books, and there was the comfortable picture of Justice
Holmes on the wall looking down with rare approval on what he saw.
Susan, our secretary, had made the last coffee of the day, and had
kicked off her shoes the better to enjoy it. The three of us just sat in
the deepening dusk, and talked. We didn't even turn on a light. It was a
shame I wasn't paying close attention to Mr. Spardleton.

I said, "Yes, I know what you mean about other people's not seeing
things the same way you do. I've see