Luke T Brean

We hired Luke Brean several months back to file two new trademark applications with the USPTO for our small, family-owned startup business. To be very honest, I was, at first, quite nervous and hesitant, not only because they were not local (i.e. from our home State) but it looked like they were oper...ating solely online. But my anxieties were immediately put to rest in the phone conversations I had with him personally - Luke Brean is a great listener and also wonderful at quickly assessing the case & coming up the best action plan for your particular set of circumstances. He gave us very sound advice and saved us from what would have, undoubtedly, turned into a huge headache for us down the road. His staff is also very professional, polite and responsive. We have never had to wait for long to get a response from their office (either via an email or phone call and we have received both depending on the complexity of the questions). All in all a really great experience, esp. after being betrayed & burnt by some other attorney in our own home State. The only improvement I would recommend to them would be to provide a better breakdown of legal fees on their website so clients know what to expect. For example, when we filed the trademark application it was done on an 'intend to use' basis and we assumed that the Total Fee we paid (which included the USPTO processing fee) will cover our trademark application all the way to registration. However, now, in a recent email from his firm, we are being told that the USPTO has issued a "Notice of Allowance" for both our trademarks but to respond to that notice and file a 'Statement of Use' it will cost an additional fee. If this was clearly stated somewhere (e.g. their website, their email communications about the trademark application or even in the many conversations that we had back and forth) it would not have taken us by surprise like this & we would have been better prepared. It may not seem like a big deal but it seriously disturbs the financial planning for a small business like ours that is still in its early stages and struggling to survive from month to month. I still like Luke Brean and his firm but I also wish we had more clarity on this issue. On one hand, it can be made to be our responsibility to just 'know' these things but the truth is we, the ordinary average clients, don't and we rely on experts, well-versed in legal matters, to be able to tell us what we may not know - Be it lawyers, doctors or other experts, that is essentially what we hire them for, don't we? Anyhow, we may end up having to abandon our trademarks but I still think Luke Brean and his team deserve a 5 star rating because it is rare these days to find attorneys, like Luke Brean, who are friendly, not arrogant, have such a positive attitude and who still sincerely believe in working for their client's interest.