Peter Van Winkle brings over 30 years of experience across in-house legal departments, law firms, and a technology transfer office, advising clients that span from individual inventors and start-ups to Fortune 500 companies. Throughout his career, Peter has built and managed strategic, cost-effective patent and trademark portfolios. He has guided clients through complex freedom-to-operate analyses and provided critical Intellectual Property (IP) support in acquisitions, divestitures, and even a challenging three-way corporate spin-off. He has successfully litigated and resolved high-stakes IP disputes, negotiated and drafted a wide range of IP agreements, and consistently delivered practical, business-focused counseling to help clients maximize the value of their own IP and navigate around the IP of others. 

How has Epiq Counsel enabled you to apply your legal expertise?    

Epiq Counsel placed me with a client eager to take advantage of over 30 years of IP, legal, and business experience. Building and managing commercially valuable patent portfolios and negotiating technology transactions help accelerate their patent portfolio development and technology commercialization efforts. Working directly and collaboratively as an embedded member of the client’s licensing team, we significantly increased the number of commercial licenses executed over the prior year. We also reduced the backlog of invention disclosures needing evaluation for patenting and commercialization prospects. 

What motivated you to choose a flexible legal career path with Epiq Counsel? 

After three decades in IP law as outside and in-house counsel, I wanted more flexibility and a model that let me focus on helping clients solve complex IP problems. Working with Epiq Counsel gives me the freedom to balance my practice interests with personal priorities, while still delivering high-quality, efficient solutions. 

What has been your favorite part about working with Epiq Counsel? 

My favorite part of working with Epiq Counsel has been the freedom to determine client needs and the ability to focus on serving those needs in a collaborative, embedded manner to enable delivery of practical, highquality solutions in a more flexible and efficient way.  

How has the flexibility of Epiq Counsel allowed you to deepen or broaden your legal expertise? 

The recent Epiq Counsel engagement provided me with an opportunity to deepen my experience with commercialization of early-stage technology developments often not directly driven by immediate market forces.  

What advice would you give to legal professionals considering a transition to a flexible legal career? 

After more than 30 years in IP law, my advice is to consider the transition with an open mind. A flexible legal career can offer focus on meaningful work and delivering real value to clients with the freedom to be creative about balancing professional and personal priorities.  

In what ways do you see the legal industry evolving to accommodate flexible, on-demand legal talent? 

Over the course of my career, I’ve seen ever increasing pressure on corporate legal departments to do more with less. The departments are often required to control costs while managing fluctuating workloads that often require specialized expertise. That pressure is driving the legal industry to recognize the value of flexible, embedded on-demand talent, especially in specialized areas like IP. Firms and companies will increasingly rely more on experienced lawyers who can and are willing to step in quickly, provide targeted expertise, and deliver cost-effective solutions without traditional long-term commitments. This model provides clients with the agility they need while giving interested lawyers the ability to engage in meaningful work on terms more suited to their lifestyle.