I've written my share of columns making fun of attorneys, probably because they often deserve it. So for a change, here's a different kind of story.
Albert Ondis is the founder and president of a thriving Rhode Island company called Astro-Med. It makes high-tech printers used for everything from cardiac testing to recording data from the Space Shuttle.Ondis invented the printer and patented it. His key competitor was a Japanese company called Graphtec, but Ondis was convinced he could outperform them.
Then one of his salesmen came back from a trade show in California having studied Graphtec's latest product. The salesman was alarmed by what he'd seen. Graphtec had copied Astro-Med's patent.
That happens to a lot of American companies, and most react by allowing the copy-cat to keep doing it, as long as they pay license fees; better that than a big legal battle.
Albert Ondis saw it differently. His printer was an American invention, and he didn't like the idea of some foreigner stealing it - even for a fee.
So he hired some attorneys to fight Graphtec. He figured it was an open-shut case, perhaps $25,000 in legal fees at most.
But Ondis was about to learn a lesson. In corporate patent battles, things often get nasty.
Graphtec began to fight back. They even filed countersuits charging that it was Astro-Med that stole their own patent.
"It got nastier and nastier," Ondis recalls.
It seemed clear to him what they were doing: even though they were wrong, Graphtec figured that if it threw enough attorneys at Ondis, he'd go away. It wasn't a bad strategy. This kind of legal battle can cost a company millions of dollars. But it isn't Albert Ondis' nature to go away.
Now we get to the part about his attorneys. Astro-Med is based in West Warwick, R.I., but Ondis felt the regional firm with the most experience for this kind of battle was Goodwin, Proctor and Hoar of Boston, an hour away. They weren't cheap, but he was told they were good. His main attorney there was Paul Ware.
The battle with Graphtec dragged on and on. Ondis' legal fees began to soar, soon averaging $150,000 a month - once it was over double that. It chewed badly into Astro-Med's profit. But Ondis never thought of giving up.
"If we let our competitors steal our inventions," he says, "that's the beginning of the end of our whole country."
Though his legal bills were enormous, he felt Goodwin, Proctor and Hoar was worth every dime. He also felt they were honorable about it.
"Every step of the way," recalls Ondis, "Paul Ware would say, `This is going to cost you some money.' And he almost always overstated what I should expect." Each bill came with an elaborate breakdown, and afterward, Ondis always got a call from Ware asking if he had a problem with any of the charges.
In the end, Ondis' legal fees came to $2 million. But he felt it was a good investment. He realized that in corporate legal wars, even if you're right, winning can depend on who has the best lawyers.
It turned out Ondis did. Astro-Med won the case. Graphtec was ordered to pay. They were ordered to pay Astro-Med a lot. They were ordered to pay $13 million.
That happened about a year ago. Now the point of this story: A few weeks ago, Ondis got a letter from his law firm, Goodwin, Proctor and Hoar. It came from Paul Ware. The letter said they'd done a review of Astro-Med's billings on their own initiative, and had determined they'd overcharged by $20,000. A check was enclosed, along with an apology. Ondis still can't believe it.
"You hear so many stories about lawyers taking advantage of clients," Ondis says. "You never hear stories about the lawyers who are honest."
Let this be one.