Most patent work in the Central Valley goes to attorneys who learn the technology from the application. That’s backwards. Understanding how an irrigation controller actually works — or where a model’s training data came from — is what determines whether a claim survives prosecution, not a formality to get past on the way to drafting.

That understanding came first here. Electrical engineering at Fresno State, then cellular communications and geo-location firmware in San Diego, then power and motion control circuitry for surveillance systems — and two U.S. patents as a named inventor before ever filing one for a client. Law was the second career.