2014 Intellectual Property Trailblazers & Pioneers

National Law Journal - October 20, 2014

From the Editor:
Part of the important role of interpreting such a fast-moving, complex industry calls for us to periodically step back and recognize the contributions of those who are raising the bar in critical practice areas. With IP Trailblazers & Pioneers, the publishing arm of the National Law Journal celebrates the achievements of IP attorneys and others who are innovating in the field, helping to change the way copyright, patent, trademark or licensing law is practiced, or how IP is protected and managed.

Far from an exhaustive list, this year’s winners are a snapshot of success and extraordinary leadership in an area critical to innovation throughout the world.

On TransPerfect & Liz Elting:
PIONEER SPIRIT: Liz Elting has loved languages ever since she can remember. She lived, studied and worked in five different countries and landed a job in the translation industry. After a few years in production and sales, “I saw a gap in the industry as far as quality and service.” After receiving her MBA in 1992 and with “globalization coming,” she launched TransPerfect. In the first several years, most work was for law firms; legal became a specialty. “We realized that IP was a necessary offering to serve law firms.”

TRAILS BLAZED: TransPerfect created the TransPerfect Linguist Certication (TLC) Program, which has since become the industry standard for linguist certication. Before a project is assigned to a particular translator, that individual must qualify by taking one or more
of over 80 subject-specific tests. Since patents can be quite technical, in addition to a general patent test, there are several subject-specic patent tests, including for automotive patents, chemical patents, engineering patents, IT patents, pharmaceutical patents and semiconductor patents. TransPerfect’s IP-related business has experienced 1,000 percent growth over the past 10 years.

FUTURE EXPLORATIONS: Elting points out that as business has become more global the legal industry supports that. "Our clients expect things faster, and they expect technology to be incorporated."

The full list of Trailblazers & Pioneers is available here.