Meet Bruce Greenhaus | Intellectual Property Lawyer/Registered Patent Attorney

We had the good fortune of connecting with Bruce Greenhaus and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Bruce, is there something that you feel is most responsible for your success?
The most important factor behind my success and the success of my firm is our attention to the client. While that sounds cliche, the fact is that we spend a significant amount of effort getting to know our client and their particular business. Our business is providing legal counsel, which can only be done well if the attorney has a very strong understanding of the way the client is doing business. We build an intimate relationship with our client to ensure that understanding is in place before we provide counsel. That includes not just knowing what products or services the client is currently providing and what they expect to provide in the future, but also what type of relationship the client has with their customers and what is important to their customers. We need to understand where the value comes from in the products and services that our client provides. In some cases, that is relatively easy. However, in other cases, the relationships that our clients have with their markets and customers can be very complex, including several layers of distribution before the product gets to the ultimate user.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
I find drafting patent applications to be a creative process and I love to write. However, I still find a need for other creative outlets. To quench that thirst for creative outlets, I continue to play music and surf. Music has been a significant part of my life since the age of 8 when I started playing trumpet in school band. At age 14, my band instructor told me that the band really needed a French horn player, and asked me to fill that need by moving to French horn. At the age of 15, I started playing guitar, which is something that most kids that play music try. At 18, I started to learn to play the drums, which was something that I always wanted to do, but had to wait until I was out of my mom and dad’s house. When it became easy and inexpensive to build a home recording studio, I did so and filled it with guitars and drums. At 30, I started to learn to play piano/keyboard and bass to fill in the recordings that I was making. Today, I have a website that I share with my friends at https://www.thegreenhauseffect.com/. It’s not my full time gig, but I really enjoy the process of recording and playing music.

My other love is surfing. I try to surf for at least 45 minutes every morning before work. It provides balance and physical exercise that keeps me excited and motivated. It’s not so bad sitting at a desk for 8-10 hours a day if you start out with a 45 min. surf session and then end in the evening recording some music.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
Hands down, my favorite spot in the city is Swami’s Surf Park. The place is amazing for the views, but also the people that surf at Swami’s are as eclectic as can be. There is everyone from surgeons to beach bums, all talking to each other about their last wave or the wave that they got last week, sharing stories about their equipment and just having a great time. Visitors can come to watch the surfing and enjoy the San Diego vibe. Right down the block from the parking lot at Swami’s is the Swami’s Cafe. A great little place for breakfast or lunch after hanging out watching the waves. The food is great and the people are special. Once you catch on to the San Diego vibe, you can head down to Balboa Park to visit the great group of museums there. The Air and Space Museum is one of my favorites. Don’t miss the concerts at the organ pavilion. The park is also host to the famous San Diego Zoo. But if you go to the Zoo, you still need to go up to Escondido to the San Diego Wild Animal Park. While the Zoo is definitely special and you should stop in while at Balboa Park, the Wild Animal Park is really an amazing must see. From there you can stop in at Lego Land for the kids and then go to Oceanside Pier to have dinner. There are several really great dinner spots in downtown Oceanside.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
I’d like to dedicate this shoutout to John Land. John is not only the mentor that provided the core knowledge that I needed to be successful in my practice, but also a life long friend and legal partner. I started my practice with a summer internship in a firm called Spensley Horn Jubas & Lubitz (SHJL). I was hired for the summer between my second and third year of law school to work in the Los Angeles office of the firm. However, I took the summer internship with SHJL because they had a San Diego office. John was a partner in the San Diego Office of this Los Angeles based firm. I requested to spend some time in San Diego. My request was granted and I started working with John for a part of the summer. At the end of the summer, SHJL made me an offer to join as a full time attorney and offered me the choice of which office I wanted to work. I selected San Diego and started to work full time upon graduating. We worked together in SHJL for 6 years, after which the San Diego office became part of the firm of Fish and Richardson. I left to work at another firm but keep in touch with John. Those five years were critical to my development as an attorney. John spent a large amount of time working with me to provide me with the tools that I needed to be successful. Several years later, John and I became partners in a small local San Diego Firm that we call Jaquez Land Greenhaus & McFarland, LLP. We have been friends through the entire time and we get to stay in close contact through our firm. My eternal thanks to John for the time, effort, care and compassion that he put into making me the attorney that I am.

Website: https://www.jlg-iplaw.com

Linkedin: Jaquez Land Greenhaus & McFarland

Other: https://www.thegreenhauseffect.com/