Brie Angela Crawford, Attorney

After receiving my B.A. in Biology from Knox College in Galesburg Illinois, I realized I wanted to further my education and became intrigued with Intellectual Property Law. As a cum laude graduate of the Northern Illinois University, College of Law, I am both excited and proud to now be working in this area with a seasoned veteran like Mr. Mathew Perrone.

I had the opportunity to law clerk for Mr. Perrone during my second summer of law school. It was then that I decided that upon graduation, I would seek a law firm where experience, and solid knowledge of the law would be blended with an ethical business approach. I think that is what we have here at our practice. Our backgrounds, age and personalities both compliment each other, yet at the same time bring in different avenues of thought as we treat each project on a individual basis. We analyze the needs of our clients, research with great efficiency and clearly communicate the results, pointing out the options and allowing our client to make the decision. This has been my personal philosophy and I am grateful that it matches with Mr. Perrone's as we work though each project together.

In our area of law, we have to be very careful to capture and document key issues and claims regarding patents and trademarks. In every case we handle, we make it a point of testing our work by actually sitting down and cross reading, commenting and questioning every aspect of that file. In this way we check our quality and brainstorm possibilities to get the best results that we can for the client. During these sessions we often come up with a different "out of the box" way to approach an issue. This sometimes leads to a savings for the client and expedites the time for processing the file.

Realizing that most clients feel awkward, concerned and even scared to speak to an attorney, we take a different approach. We make our clients feel at ease by keeping our sessions informal and casual. We give them the time and stage they need to make their presentation, express their concerns, and allow plenty of time for questions. From time to time we might offer on the spot suggestions and carefully go through the legal process from start to finish. We also are careful to note the possible pitfalls we may encounter in this journey. I have found that by taking these extra steps, it really eases their minds and they learn that they are more then a project to us. Should "example" later become "reality", the client has the confidence in knowing that we understand and identify the problem and that the issues will be addressed in a timely and professional manner because we care.

Because a good deal of our work is Patents and Trademarks. I like to research every step of my projects and communicate all results to the client as quickly as possible so that they have lime to adjust their forecasting, marketing, advertising and production plans. Our in house tracking systems that are support staff has created keeps us organized and also gives the client ample time to respond to filing critical issues like "maintenance fees".

This is truly and exciting time in our country as new technologies and diverse discoveries emerge. We are able to handle mechanical, biological, electronic, and chemical projects effectively and can handle many other areas of Intellectual Property Law.

What I find personally gratifying, is when our professional clients come to us asking advice or to create Wills, Trusts, handle their Probate issues as well as Real Estate closings.

I look forward to meeting you and hope you will give us the opportunity to serve you.