CodeX FutureLaw 2022
Ian Schick
Ian C. Schick, Ph.D., Esq. (ian.schick@draft.builders; https://blog.specif.io/) is an internationally recognized top 300 intellectual property strategist and leading voice in patent law practice innovation. Ian’s primary interests include automating routine writing tasks and related workflows that traditionally involve attorneys. Ian is a Stanford CodeX Fellow and leads the Machine-Generated Legal Documents project.
Ian’s technical background spans physics, electrical engineering, and materials science. He completed a B.S. and Ph.D. at Colorado School of Mines, where he also competed as a varsity collegiate wrestler. For his thesis, Ian studied non-classical interactions between light and subwavelength metallic structures. He relocated to the Bay Area after graduate school to pursue a career path at the intersection of business and technology, finding his ideal fit in patent law.
Ian started with Silicon Valley boutique law firm Carr & Ferrell LLP and later moved to global firm Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittmann LLP, completing law school at the University of San Diego School of Law. At Pillsbury, Ian helped establish the firm’s West Coast presence for “new media” clients—computer animations, video games, human-computer interfaces, interactive computer installations, websites, virtual worlds, and virtual currencies.
While practicing, Ian became fascinated with the possibility of automating parts of the patent drafting process. He reconnected with former client and renowned computer scientist, Dr. Kevin Knight, and together they created an artificial intelligence prototype that could auto-generate large portions of patent application text. Seeing that as the future of patent practice, Ian and Kevin founded Specifio in 2017 as an incubated startup at the University of Southern California’s Information Sciences Institute.
Practice workflow innovation is another keen interest of Ian’s; more specifically, applying lean production principles—first formulated in the automotive industry—to traditional workflows for producing legal documents. This inspired Ian’s second company, Draft Builders, founded in 2020, which is an on-demand platform providing large law firm patent practices with the drafting capabilities of a technology-enabled network of vetted solo practitioners.
Ian publishes frequently and is active in the legal community. He serves as Chair of the American Intellectual Property Law Association’s Emerging Technologies Committee. Before becoming Chair, Ian was founding co-chair of both the Practice Innovation and Artificial Intelligence Subcommittees. In addition, Ian is co-chairing the effort to create California’s chapter of the United States Intellectual Property Alliance.
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