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Leavitt & Eldredge: A Housing-Crisis Career Pivot That Became a 3,700-Patent Practice

Richard Eldredge was working as a professional engineer and patent attorney when the 2007 housing crisis hit, prompting him to rethink the traditional way of serving clients and build his own firm around efficiency and flat-rate pricing. Nearly two decades later, that firm has prosecuted more than 3,700 patents and trademarks nationwide.

Origin and Background

Leavitt & Eldredge Law Firm’s Austin office is located inside the Dobie Twenty21 building on Guadalupe Street, near the University of Texas campus, with its principal office in Arlington, Texas and additional locations in Dallas, Fort Worth, and Houston. Founded in 2008 by Richard G. Eldredge, a professional engineer and patent attorney, the firm is now led by Managing Partner Brandon Leavitt alongside Senior Partner Richard Eldredge, with more than 30 years of combined intellectual property experience.

Practice Concentration

The firm’s practice covers patent prosecution, trademark registration, copyright services, trade secret services, LLC formation, and IP litigation, offering flat-fee patent drafting and filing with additional services billed hourly, along with free initial patent and trademark consultations. The Austin office specifically serves students, researchers, and tech entrepreneurs in the downtown University of Texas area. See this Austin Intellectual Property directory for how this flat-fee, multi-city Texas practice compares to hourly-billed boutique IP firms.

Notable Work / Track Record

The firm has prosecuted more than 3,700 patents and trademarks nationwide over more than 30 years of combined attorney experience, a documented volume figure distinct from individual case-specific outcomes. Awesome Attorneys did not identify a itemized results table beyond this aggregate prosecution volume.

Client Voice

Client feedback is mixed. One client review describes the firm as “absolutely amazing… from the top down” and praised its team as “really caring” and going “above and beyond.” Another review specifically praised the firm’s help navigating trademark registration involving common English words. Separately, at least one Better Business Bureau review reported dissatisfaction, describing “wasted time and money over 4 years with little to no results” and no patent approval. Awesome Attorneys discloses this negative review directly alongside the positive feedback rather than presenting only favorable commentary.

Beyond the Courtroom

Awesome Attorneys did not identify specific named civic or nonprofit board service for the firm’s attorneys distinct from their direct client work.

Recognition for This Austin IP Firm

Richard Eldredge has been selected to Super Lawyers lists and holds a Three Best Rated recognition, both independently verifiable directory-based distinctions. Awesome Attorneys did not identify formal state board certification in patent or trademark law for this profile, as no such distinct board certification track currently exists in Texas for that specialty.

Texas Legal Backdrop

Patent prosecution before the USPTO operates under federal law regardless of state, and the firm’s flat-fee pricing model addresses a genuine practical concern: patent costs can otherwise escalate under open-ended hourly billing, particularly through multiple rounds of USPTO office action responses — the specific scenario described in the negative BBB review referenced above, where a multi-year prosecution ultimately produced no patent approval. A patent applicant should understand that flat-fee filing does not guarantee patent issuance, since USPTO examination outcomes depend on the invention’s actual novelty and non-obviousness under the applicable statute regardless of attorney fee structure. None of this is legal advice; a specific patent or trademark matter should be evaluated by a licensed attorney based on the actual facts involved.

Awesome Attorneys Assessment

Leavitt & Eldredge’s clearest differentiator is a documented, high-volume patent and trademark prosecution practice — more than 3,700 filings nationwide — built on flat-fee pricing with a dedicated Austin location convenient to the University of Texas innovation community. The honest trade-off is a genuinely mixed review record: strong praise for responsiveness and trademark work alongside at least one documented complaint about a multi-year patent prosecution that produced no approval, which any prospective client should weigh and discuss directly with the firm before engaging. For a student, researcher, or early-stage inventor near UT Austin who wants predictable flat-fee pricing and values firm size and prosecution volume, that combination is a reasonable basis for a shortlist, with the honest caveat to set clear expectations about outcome likelihood upfront.

Methodology and Sourcing

This profile was researched from Leavitt & Eldredge’s own website (firm history, service areas, and Austin office description via Catalog Lawyer), the Better Business Bureau’s business profile, and Yelp’s aggregated review page for the Austin location.

Publisher Disclosure and Independence Notice

Awesome Attorneys is an independent legal directory and editorial publication. This profile was not paid for, commissioned, or reviewed by Leavitt & Eldredge Law Firm or its attorneys prior to publication. Awesome Attorneys may in the future offer sponsored placement products to attorneys and firms, including this one, but sponsorship has no bearing on the editorial content, inclusion, or findings of this profile.