Be the Patent Attorney Who Can Draw

What If Drawing Was Part of Legal Strategy?

Most patent attorneys don’t think of drawing as part of their job. That’s the drafter’s role. But in practice, figures often need clarification, rework, or rethinking — and that back-and-forth takes time.

The attorneys who can draw — even at a basic, functional level — don’t just speed things up. They lead the process. They:

• Translate invention disclosures more clearly
• Guide figure strategy during drafting
• Make quick edits without external delays
• Communicate better with inventors and examiners

And above all, they stay in control.

This Isn’t About Becoming a Drafter

You don’t need to produce polished figures. What you need is:

• The ability to express ideas visually
• The skill to revise or annotate drawings with precision
• A way to communicate visually with clients, drafters, and the USPTO
• The confidence to work directly inside editable files — not just PDFs or scans

This is about legal fluency in a visual format.

What “Being Able to Draw” Looks Like Today

In modern patent practice, drawing isn’t pen and paper — it’s structured shapes, editable files, and tools like Visio.

Here’s what drawing competence actually looks like for an attorney:

• Sketching flowcharts, block diagrams, or concepts using basic shapes
• Editing or annotating formal drawings without sending them out
• Using a drawing tool during interviews or intake with inventors
• Making changes during prosecution without waiting on a new draft

This level of ability is achievable — and it’s practical.

Why It Changes the Way You Work

Attorneys who can draw aren’t doing more work. They’re:

• Eliminating communication loops
• Accelerating filing timelines
• Reducing dependency on others for basic changes
• Standardizing visuals across applications and families
• Collaborating more effectively with technical and drafting teams

It’s about making visual edits as natural as editing text — because in patent law, drawings are text.

Drawing as a Modern Legal Skill

In law, we value tools that make us faster, clearer, and more credible.

In patent law, that includes:

• Knowing how to open and edit a Visio figure
• Knowing when to sketch an idea instead of describing it
• Knowing how to annotate a figure yourself, in seconds
• Knowing how to delegate drawing work effectively because you understand the structure behind it

That’s what it means to be the attorney who can draw.

The Patent Drawing School Approach

At Patent Drawing School, we teach attorneys:

• A simplified set of drawing techniques tuned for legal use
• A focused way to work in Visio — with everything unnecessary removed
• A method for handling annotations, sketches, and revisions in one workflow

So attorneys don’t just review figures — they shape them.