Senior Attorney (Contractor Role)

Trestle Law is a modern intellectual property and business law firm. We work with founders, creators, and brand-driven businesses: clients who treat their IP as a strategic asset, not a checkbox. We are not a high-volume filing shop. We provide strategic counsel that helps clients protect, structure, and monetize what they've built.

We are engaging an experienced contract attorney to handle high-level matters across IP, business, and select federal litigation.

To Apply:

Submit your resume and a cover letter (under 200 words) about a matter you owned from start to finish and the decision in it that mattered most. We won't review applications without the note.

REQUIRED: CALIFORNIA BAR ADMISSION

How the Engagement Works:

• Independent contract attorney engagement at $150/hour, $50/hour for any administrative tasks, invoiced monthly

• Volume starts around 10-20 hours per week, with opportunity to grow

• You set your own working hours. We need reliable availability during Pacific business hours for client calls, deadlines, and time-sensitive turnaround

• Time tracked in Clio in 0.1-hour increments

What You'll Work On:

• Matters across business, IP, and select federal litigation, including trademark and copyright disputes, TTAB proceedings, licensing, and commercial contracts

• Client counseling on brand protection, monetization, contract negotiation, and dispute strategy

• Drafting and negotiating licensing, commercial, and brand-related agreements

• Case strategy with the managing attorney

What Matters to Us:

• Judgment and quality of work product

• Responsiveness and turnaround on deadline-driven work

• Clear communication: knowing when to ask, when to decide, and how to keep clients and the managing attorney informed

• Ownership: matters move forward without anyone having to chase them

• Efficiency on fixed-fee matters

Who You Are:

• 8+ years of practice, with substantive experience in IP, business, and commercial litigation

• California bar in good standing

• Strong drafting and negotiation skills, with a track record of moving complex matters efficiently

• Comfortable owning matters end to end and exercising independent judgment

• Comfortable with fixed-fee work and managing matters against a budget

• Proficient in Clio, SharePoint, Teams, Outlook, and Word

• Able to take on 15 to 25 hours per week of substantive matter work

You are Likely a Strong Fit if You:

• Think like a business owner, not just a technician

• See legal issues from 10,000 feet and act with the right level of detail

• Take initiative without waiting to be told

Required:

• Soft IP focus (trademark, copyright, trade dress)

• TTAB experience and Federal Litigation

• Experience advising founder-led or creative businesses

Trestle Law serves founders, creators, and established visionaries across the country. We help clients protect what they've built, structure strong businesses, negotiate smart deals, and turn intellectual property into valuable assets.

Our culture is high-performance and high-trust. We work hard, expect excellence, and care about clients and each other. We are thoughtful, decisive, and growth-oriented.