Hartman Global IP Law has called Valparaiso home for decades, protecting the intellectual property of clients worldwide from their Chicago Street office. Fortune 500 companies, manufacturers, and universities all rely on them to protect their inventions, work, and branding.
However, Hartman Global is also committed to helping and defending nonprofits, inventors, and entrepreneurs from around the local community with pro-bono and low-bono assistance.
“We live here, we’ve raised our kids here,” said Domenica Hartman, co-founder of Hartman Global IP Law. “I could run into our clients at the grocery store. So, it’s really important to us to serve this community well and find ways to give back. That’s something that we feel very strongly about here.”
When it comes to helping their neighbors, profit is not Hartman Global’s goal – they seek to provide the help and financial flexibility their fellow community members need to see their ideas protected in a global marketplace.
“If someone’s got an idea, we’ll go out of our way to help them bring their vision to fruition,” said Hartman. “We don’t turn down anybody. We’ve had clients over the years that have a phenomenal product, but they’re on disability or are fighting really significant health issues. We’d look the other way when it comes to the bill and say, ‘Get healthy.’”
Hartman recalled one local client who had overcome substance abuse and turned their experience around to help others.
“He created an innovative, beautifully done approach to addiction treatment,” she said. “He’d done amazing work, but needed help with copyright, trademarks, that kind of thing. I told him, ‘You don’t need to pay me, you just worry about helping these people in need.’”
Seeing those innovators use the opportunity to take flight encapsulates what Hartman loves about her work.
“We get to help this person grow their baby to fruition,” she said. “It’s really satisfying, and it’s really great to open the paper and see someone or a nonprofit that we’ve helped pro-bono in the headlines.”
In other fields of law, such as injury or criminal, pro-bono work makes an impact on the lives of the client and their families. To Hartman, the most exciting part about pro-bono work in IP law is the positive ripple effect that helping one client can produce in a community.
“We’re dealing with innovators that are changing lives around the area,” she said. “There are no pet projects for us; if someone comes to us and needs help, we’ll help them. We love that aspect of our work.”
To learn more about Hartman Global IP Law, visit hartmanglobal-ip.com.
