April 2026 — Elevate experts Tarun Bansal and Shubhendu Dwivedi examine the drivers of law firm profitability in their article, ‘The Changing Economics of IP Practice: An Australian Perspective,’ featured as a thought leadership contribution at the Institute of Patent and Trademark Attorneys of Australia 2026 Annual Conference. The piece explores how pricing pressures, expanding portfolio scale, and evolving delivery models are reshaping the economics of IP practice.

The article opens with a clear challenge facing IP firms today: strong filing volumes no longer guarantee strong profitability. As fixed-fee prosecution becomes more common and clients demand greater pricing predictability, firms are being forced to look more closely at where margins are created, where they erode, and how IP work should be structured going forward.

Set against the Australian market, Elevate experts explain why these pressures are significant. Patent practice is largely shaped by foreign-origin filings with global portfolios, while trademark practice reflects a mix of domestic and international activity, illustrated through real-world examples.

They also place these shifts in a broader legal industry context, noting how leading law firms like Allen & Overy, Clifford Chance, and Baker McKenzie are redesigning delivery through managed services, delivery centres, and technology-enabled review, allowing firms to scale execution while preserving partner focus on higher-value work.

This same shift is now reshaping IP practice. Across portfolio development, litigation support, and commercialisation, the emerging model separates strategic legal judgement from repeatable execution work, particularly in areas prone to margin leakage, such as prior-art analysis, drafting support, and portfolio coordination.

While AI accelerates search, drafting, and analytics, its impact depends on how it is embedded within operating models. Firms that combine AI with Centres of Excellence (CoE) and specialised teams are better positioned to translate productivity into profitability.

Their conclusion is clear – IP firms become profitable by pairing strategic legal expertise with scalable execution, where organisational design, not just technology, defines competitive advantage.

Read more, here.