CAREER & PRACTICE MANAGEMENT SERIES SAY WHAT? IMPROVING WRITTEN AND ORAL COMMUNICATION SKILLS FOR SUCCESS. Tuesday, January 20, 2015 TABLE OF CONTENTS I. PowerPoint Presentation II. Speaker Biographies
CAREER & PRACTICE MANAGEMENT SERIES Say what? Improving written & oral communication skills for success. January 20, 2015 12:30 pm 1:30 pm Eastern 11:30 am 12:30 pm Central 10:30 am 11:30 am Mountain 9:30 am 10:30 am Pacific 1 How to submit a question 2 1
Online Programs Committees Webinar Coordinator Hetal Kushwaha Chair of the Subcommittee for Career & Practice Management Webinars Marks & Clerk Canada AIPLA Online Programs Committee Leadership Stephen E. Belisle Chair, Online Programs Fitzpatrick Cella Harper & Scinto Sbelisle@fchs.com Jennifer M. K. Rogers Vice Chair, Online Programs Shumaker & Sieffert, PA Rogers@ssiplaw.com 3 Presented by Grant Shackelford Associate Attorney Sughrue Mion, PLLC David Folkerson Program Manager, Communications Standards Council of Canada Past President of Laurier Toastmasters Stephen Holzen (Moderator) Director, Dispute Advisory & Forensic Services Stout Risius Ross, Inc. 4 2
Writing clearly, concisely, and convincingly Grant Shackelford Sughrue Mion PLLC Overview Strategies for eliminating unnecessary words to make your writing more direct and effective. Strategies for structuring your sentences to improve their clarity and impact. 3
Eliminate unnecessary words Glue words and working words Working words: give meaning to a sentence and are nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs. Glue words: hold the working words together, but do not add meaning. Richard C. Wydick, Plain English for Lawyers 7-11 (5th ed. 2005) 4
Glue words and working words Reduce the proportion of glue words to working words to make your sentences more direct. Richard C. Wydick, Plain English for Lawyers 7-11 (5th ed. 2005) Identify the glue words and the working words At the point in time when the patent-in-suit issued, sales of the infringing widget were being made by the defendant, despite the fact that he had knowledge of the patent s issuance. 5
Identify the glue words and the working words At the point in time when the patent-in-suit issued, sales of the infringing widget were being made by the defendant, despite the fact that he had knowledge of the patent s issuance. (14:17) Revised: Defendant sold his infringing widget, despite knowing that the patent-in-suit had issued. (11:3) Eliminate compound constructions Compound constructions use several words to express the meaning of one or two. 6
Eliminate compound constructions Compound constructions use several words to express the meaning of one or two. In many cases For the reason that In accordance with Often Because Under He was aware of the fact that He Knew In some instances The question as to whether Sometimes Whether Identify compound constructions From the point of view of judicial economy, our submission to the court is that it should consolidate all nine of the civil actions, both for the purpose of discovery at the present time, and at a later time for the purpose of trial. Richard C. Wydick, Plain English for Lawyers 7-11 (5th ed. 2005) 7
Identify compound constructions From the point of view of judicial economy, our submission to the court is that it should consolidate all nine of the civil actions, both for the purpose of discovery at the present time, and at a later time for the purpose of trial. Revised: For judicial economy's sake, we submit that this court should consolidate all nine civil actions, both for discovery now and for trial later. Richard C. Wydick, Plain English for Lawyers 7-11 (5th ed. 2005) Convert negatives into positives Readers are more satisfied by what something is, than what it is not. Negative expressions are often less persuasive than their corresponding positive form. 8
Convert negatives into positives Negative expression Did not comply with Not honest Did not pay attention to Did not remember Did not have confidence in Positive Violated Dishonest Ignored Forgot Distrusted Convert negatives into positives He did not follow the rules. Revised: He violated the rules. Plaintiff's theories are not supported by the court's precedent. Revised: Plaintiff's theories contravene the court's precedent. 9
Prefer base verbs to nominalizations Nominalization: a verb that has been converted into a noun. Collision v. collide Demonstration v. demonstrate Prefer base verbs to nominalizations Nominalizations lengthen and weaken the impact of your sentences Solution: Replace nominalizations with their base verbs to make your writing more direct and more impactful. 10
Replace the nominalizations with base verbs His conduct was in violation of the statute. He violated the statute. Plaintiff made a conscious decision to not follow the court s order. Plaintiff disregarded the court s order. The defendants entered an agreement to coordinate their defenses. A party's refusal to provide adequate discovery provides a basis for seeking sanctions. Structure sentences for clarity 11
Prefer the active voice Passive voice: When a verb is used in the passive, the subject is acted upon. Active voice: When you use a verb in the active voice, the subject acts. The statute was enacted by Congress. Congress enacted the statute. Revise the passive sentences into active form It was held that the statute was unconstitutional. The court held that the statute was unconstitutional. Mistakes were made that taint the jury s decision. The judge was lenient and did not hold John in contempt. 12
Sometimes passive voice is preferred To distance the actor from the action. To place a strong element at the end of the sentence for emphasis. When the action is important, but the actor is not. When the actor is unknown. Sometimes passive voice is preferred Ms. Jones was injured by a stray bullet during the incident of July 30 involving my client. Defendant shot Ms. Jones during the robbery. Accordingly, plaintiff's motion should be denied. The incriminating documents were destroyed. 13
Set the subject, verb, and object close together Long gaps before and between the subject, verb, and object challenge your reader s memory and weaken the impact of your writing. Set the subject, verb, and object close together Solution: Place the subject, verb, and object close together and toward the beginning of your sentences. Move intervening clauses to the end of a sentence, or into a separate sentence. 14
Set the subject, verb, and object close together Based on a proper application of this Court's long-standing precedent, which the district court did not follow in its decision to disregard XYZ s toxicity, this Court should reverse the lower court's holding. Set the subject, verb, and object close together Based on a proper application of this Court's long-standing precedent, which the district court did not follow in its decision to disregard XYZ s toxicity, this Court should reverse the lower court's holding. (Subject: 27 th word) 15
Set the subject, verb, and object close together Revision: This Court should reverse the lower court's holding, which contravenes wellestablished precedent by failing to consider XYZ s severe toxicity. Set the subject, verb, and object close together The patent laws provide to any person who files a patent application having claims directed to a novel invention that would not have been obvious in view of the state of the art and a specification that adequately discloses the claimed invention as well as how to make and use it a limited monopoly to exclude others from practicing the invention. 16
Set the subject, verb, and object close together The patent laws provide to any person who files a patent application having claims directed to a novel invention that would not have been obvious in view of the state of the art and a specification that adequately discloses the claimed invention as well as how to make and use it a limited monopoly to exclude others from practicing the invention. (Verb to object: 47 words) Average sentence length Long sentences that combine multiple ideas, interposed with clauses, strain the reader's memory. General rules: Limit sentences to one main idea; and Keep average sentence length to below 25 words. 17
Average sentence length The citations that were made to the identified references do not disclose the novel aspects of the claimed invention, which the examples in the present specification demonstrate were unexpected, a fact that the cited references cannot dispute for the reason that they are directed to an entirely different field of endeavor that actually teaches away from the principles of the claimed invention and therefore would not have encouraged a skilled artisan to arrive at the claimed invention. (77 words) Thank You 18
Intro to Oral Communication Presentation Basics, by David Folkerson 19
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Today s topics Anxiety Credibility Engagement Desensitize yourself 21
Reps, reps, reps Commit to practice 22
Breath to lower your stress thermometer Recap 23
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Today s topics Anxiety Credibility Engagement Eliminate crutch words 26
Slow down Stop using notes 27
Stand up straight Recap 28
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Today s topics Anxiety Credibility Engagement Make good eye contact 31
Hook them early Use analogies, similes and metaphors 32
Less text, more pictures Recap 33
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Today s topics Anxiety Credibility Engagement 36
Thank you 73 74 37
Thank you for participating in today s program! If you have any questions for today s presenters that were not addressed or were stuck in the queue, please e-mail them to: Seminar_Questions@aipla.org For more information on AIPLA s online programs, please visit our website: www.aipla.org > Learning Center/Meetings > Webinars 75 38
Grant Shackelford Who We Are Sughrue Mion, PLLC Who We Are Practice Areas Grant Shackelford Associate Washington T: 202.663.7402 Biotechnology / Pharmaceutical Chemical Patent ITC Section 337 Litigation Litigation Patent Litigation Patent Prosecution gshackelford@sughrue.com Profile Mr. Shackelford is an associate in the chemical patent and biotechnology / pharmaceutical practice groups, where he maintains an active patent prosecution and litigation practice. Prior to joining Sughrue Mion, Mr. Shackelford served as Intellectual Property Fellow at Illinois Institute of Technology Chicago Kent College of Law, where he taught IP courses for LL.M. and J.D. students and conducted research into patent claim construction. During law school, Mr. Shackelford worked as a patent prosecution law clerk at the U.S. Department of Energy, evaluating invention disclosures, responding to Office Actions, and drafting patent applications. Prior to law school, Mr. Shackelford Education IIT Chicago Kent College of Law, J.D., Honors University of California, San Francisco, M.S., Chemistry and Chemical Biology University of Missouri Columbia, B.S., Biochemistry, with honors Bar Admissions Illinois U.S. Patent and Trademark Office worked at the Midwest Center for Structural Genomics as an Associate Research Scientist, where he conducted and helped develop techniques for high throughput cloning, expression, and crystallization of target proteins. Mr. Shackelford earned his J.D. from the IIT Chicago Kent College of Law, where he was a member of the Moot Court Honor Society and Law Review. He received his B.S. in Biochemistry from the University of Missouri Columbia and M.S. in Chemistry and Chemical Biology from the University of California, San Francisco. As an undergraduate and graduate research scientist, Mr. Shackelford focused his research in the area of protein chemistry, studying protein superfamilies to identify mechanisms of enzymatic function and routes through which enzymes develop new functionality. Admitted in Illinois only. Not a member of the DC Bar. Practice limited to certain matters before federal agencies and courts. 2014 Sughrue Mion PLLC, All Rights Reserved. http://www.sughrue.com/grant Shackelford/ 1/1
Stephen A. Holzen Stout Risius Ross Stephen A. Holzen, CLP, CVA Director WASHINGTON, DC +1.202.370.2403 sholzen@srr.com Stephen A. Holzen is a Director in the Dispute Advisory & Forensic Services Group. He has experience providing intellectual property consulting services with a focus on valuation and damages in litigation. Related Services Dispute Advisory & Forensic Services Intellectual Property Valuation Intellectual Property Litigation & Licensing Related Segments Intellectual Property Professionals Mr. Holzen specializes in intellectual property damages arising from the infringement and misappropriation of patent, copyright, trademark and trade secret rights. He has been designated as an expert witness to testify in patent litigations and has performed valuations of intellectual property in arms length licensing matters. Many of his past engagements included an evaluation and analysis of financial and economic data in order to quantify lost profits, reasonable royalties, unjust enrichment or diminished business value. He has also provided analytical and corporate finance support to clients engaged in licensing negotiations and business transactions. Mr. Holzen has written and lectured on methods for determining damages in intellectual property infringement matters, as well as on valuation techniques for intangible assets. He currently serves as the Chair of Local Networking for AIPLA's Patent Agents Committee and is a liaison to AIPLA's New Lawyers' Committee. Prior to joining SRR, Mr. Holzen was a Director at Invotex where he focused his practice on economic damages in patent, trademark and copyright litigations. He also served as a Patent Examiner for six years with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office within the U.S. Department of Commerce. Mr. Holzen is a member of the American Intellectual Property Law Association, the Licensing Executives Society, and the National Association of Certified Valuators and Analysts. Education B.S., Pennsylvania State University M.B.A., American University Designations Certified Licensing Professional Certified Valuation Analyst Follow us Subscribe to SRR Journal Member of Locations Sitemap Terms and Privacy Policy Disclaimer 2015 Stout Risius Ross, Inc. http://www.srr.com/professionals/stephen holzen 1/1