IP Innovators / Trust But Verify: AI as Every Attorney’s Second Pair of Eyes

In the third episode of IP Innovators, host Steve Brachmann sits down with Mark Kesslen, Partner and Chair of the Intellectual Property Group at Lowenstein Sandler, to trace a career that spans from the dawn of online banking and the FinTech revolution to the rise of AI in patent law. As AI tools become increasingly common in law firms and patent practices across the United States, Kesslen offers a firsthand view of how attorneys are learning to integrate these systems effectively and responsibly. From his early work digitizing finance at LabMorgan to leading AI adoption in a top-tier IP practice, Kesslen’s story reflects a profession once again at a turning point defined by the mantra: “Trust, but verify.”

The Foundations of Digital Disruption in FinTech and Patent Law

After his pivot from electrical engineering, Kesslen’s career followed a classic IP trajectory: boutique prosecution in Boston, a broader IP role at a New York boutique that merged into a larger firm, followed by what Kesslen calls his “needle in a haystack” opportunity in the late 1990’s: an in-house chief patent role at LabMorgan, JPMorgan Chase’s incubator/accelerator, giving him a front-row seat to the disruption of the dot-com boom and the rise of digital banking.

In 1998, the State Street Bank v. Signature Financial Group case encouraged broader protection for digital and financial innovation, and opened the door to even greater possibilities in FinTech.

“FinTech changed everything,” Kesslen notes, pointing to quant and algorithmic trading that have “fundamentally changed the way financial services are done,” even when the underlying methods were later deemed non-patentable.

At LabMorgan, Kesslen worked on projects that, though seemingly routine today, were radical at the time: consumer online bill pay, trading exchanges, and a platform that let car buyers submit credit applications at the dealership and receive near-instant decisions.

Not every experiment stuck, says Kesslen. “For every one success, there were twenty or thirty failures.” One thing that did stick, however, was the clear realignment of finance around software.

Then came Alice Corp v. CLS Bank in 2014, which narrowed the path that State Street opened. The Alice decision refined the scope of software patents through the now-familiar two-step §101 test, excluding abstract ideas and requiring an “inventive concept” beyond routine computer implementation.

The FinTech industry was hit especially hard. “If you looked at the financial services companies that were building big portfolios at the time, they had to take a hard look at everything they had on file,” Kesslen says. “it led to the paring back or the cutting of those portfolios.”

He believes the courts sometimes use the wrong analytical tool entirely. “I’ve always thought §101 is the wrong test,” he says. “§103 is the much clearer way to tackle those things.” Many rejected FinTech patents, he adds, might have failed for obviousness anyway, but according to Kesslen, the over-broad §101 standard blurred the line between abstract ideas and genuine technical innovation.

The tightening of eligibility standards forced innovation back to the technical drawing board. But where Alice narrowed what could be claimed, AI has begun to expand what can be done, in both the technologies clients build and the tools patent lawyers now use. For Kesslen, that next transformation felt familiar: another shift driven by software, this time inside the practice of law itself.

How AI is Changing the Way Patent Lawyers Work

When it comes to AI, Kesslen sees echoes of the FinTech revolution. “Patent prosecution is on the short list to be one of the earliest adopters for most change,” he says. “[Patent professionals] know the technology, they understand the technology, they’re not afraid of the technology, and I think that combination makes it a great one-two punch.”

At Lowenstein Sandler, that philosophy has moved from theory to practice. The firm is among many US law firms now experimenting with AI-powered patent automation tools designed to streamline drafting and OARs. “It’s like having a legal consigliere on my screen all day,” Kesslen says. He keeps an AI widget pinned to his toolbar, and encourages all employees to explore AI’s potential. “It can digest an agreement for me, look at a patent application, identify typos and inconsistencies. It’s saving me so much time.”

Kesslen gives a hypothetical: if the firm took 1-4 hours for manual IDS processes, then AI would allow them to do it in 15-20 minutes. The time savings allowed the team to reduce backlogs and re-deploy staff to higher-value analytical work.

Beyond IDS automation, other pilots are under way at Lowenstein Sandler. The firm is currently testing tools that help them:

• Convert claims into drawings
• Draft first-pass OARs
• Generate quick invalidity claim charts from both patent and non-patent literature
• Perform trademark searches

According to Kesslen, AI has two sweet spots in patent drafting: “conquering the blank page” and perfecting the final output. At the start of a project, attorneys can generate a rough scaffold instead of facing an empty screen; while at the end, they can polish a draft for accuracy and consistency.

Kesslen says that between those two stages, lawyers still provide the brainpower when it comes to strategy, claim craft, and argumentation—for now. In short, AI is really good at taking on the menial tasks to give patent professionals more time for what they do best.

Four AI Implementation Tips for Patent Firms from Mark Kesslen

Drawing on Lowenstein Sandler’s early adoption efforts, Kesslen offers four practical lessons for firms exploring AI integration—from experimentation and security to culture and resource allocation.

1.   Test Drive Widely

Kesslen says they meet with new vendors regularly to explore more AI tools. After identifying a need, they ask how AI might address it, then assess cost and benefit. The key, he notes, is to experiment before committing.

2.   Adopt AI Where it’s Already Strong

As Kesslen says, AI is great at starting and finishing the drafting process. Use it to generate initial drafts, refine OARs, and perform quality control checks—areas where speed and precision add measurable value.

3.   Implement Rigorous Security Measures

While Kesslen is quite confident in Azure/AWS private-cloud security, he insists on internal validation. Confidentiality, PII protection, and code hygiene are non-negotiable, and firms should not hesitate to reject vendors that fail those tests.

4.   Measure and Re-deploy

Tracking impact is essential. “It has enabled us to really speed it. Not only speed the process, keep the backlog down, but look at our staffing models…and putting people to their best and highest use,” says Kesslen. Quantifying time savings helps firms reallocate resources to the most strategic value-creating work.

Changing Hearts and Minds: Building an AI-Ready Law Firm Culture

For Kesslen, AI adoption isn’t about the next shiny tool—it’s about culture. “We’re trying to change hearts and minds,” says Kesslen. Lowenstein Sandler’s training programs encourage every attorney to begin a task by asking, “What can AI do to help you?”

That question reflects a new professional posture: curious, disciplined, and adaptable. Kesslen remains optimistic about AI’s potential but cautious about over-reliance. The lawyers who learn to do both—the trusting and the verifying—will define the next generation of IP innovation.

IP Innovators is proudly sponsored by DeepIP—the patent intelligence platform for in-house teams and external counsel. Learn more at deepip.ai.