The Continuous Record
Seven layers. Two surfaces. One record that crosses between them.
Layer by layer
client
Client surface
Disclosure, interview, search, and first-pass drafting, in the client's hands and on their time.
The specific: The specification is generated with located prior art in context, and the interface prints how many references it was drafted around, or, in amber, that no search was run.
the crossing
The crossing
The mechanism that makes a handoff lossless.
The specific: If a client hit a knockout finding and chose to continue anyway, that decision arrives at counsel timestamped, as the first card in their prior-art queue. If they chose to keep the matter deliberately unaware of the art, counsel sees that stated rather than inferred. Document blocks are keyed to the client's own matter, so they survive the fork to counsel and the ship back. Nothing is re-keyed, re-typed, or reconstructed.
counsel
Counsel workroom
Drafting, prior art, prosecution, docket, and the client channel, scoped per attorney at the data layer.
The specific: An unassigned attorney sees an empty workroom because the query returns nothing, not because the interface hid it.
shared
Gates and overrides
Every place the system stops, what triggers it, how to proceed anyway, and what gets written when you do.
The specific: Published in full, below.
shared
The record
Append-only. Every consequential act writes an event; nothing is updated or deleted.
The specific: When stale proposals are swept away, the sweep is written to the record before the destructive action, not after. An override is not an exception to the record: an override is an event.
shared
Registry access
Live USPTO and trademark status data.
The specific: When the office is unavailable, the system records that it was unavailable rather than presenting an empty result as an answer.
shared
Governed automation
An AI assistant that operates the practice under the same discipline as the interface.
The specific: Every write is a dry run by default: the assistant previews, and nothing happens until a human confirms. The docket sweep posts one update per matter per sweep, each approved individually, and will not guess a registry number from an internal docket tag.
Every place the system stops.
A public list of the gates: what triggers each one, how to proceed anyway, and what gets written when you do. It is versioned, and entries are appended rather than edited.
| The gate | What triggers it | How to override | What gets recorded |
|---|---|---|---|
| No search run before drafting | A specification is requested with no prior-art search on the matter. | Proceed without a search, stated explicitly. | The draft is marked as written in ignorance of the art, with the choice attributed. |
| Knockout reference found | A located reference reads on the claimed subject matter. | Continue anyway. | The finding, the decision, the person, and the timestamp, and the card arrives first in counsel's queue. |
| Unverified date on a reference | A date could not be read from the document itself. | Accept the date as stated. | The date keeps its unverified rank wherever it is later relied on. |
| Filing over open findings | A filing is attempted while findings remain unresolved. | File anyway, on the record. | An event naming each finding that was overridden. |
| Registry unavailable | The Office does not answer. | None: the step waits. | The unavailability, not an empty result. |
| Automated write proposed | The assistant intends to change a matter. | Human confirmation, per change. | The dry run, the confirmation, and the resulting change as separate events. |
Three refusals have no override, because they are not judgment calls. You cannot reorder paragraphs after filing, because the Office holds those numbers. You cannot edit the document from the review surface once the drafting room owns it. And prosecution tools do not appear until there is an office action to respond to.
Changelog
- 2026-08-16Catalog published. Six gates listed; three refusals stated.
Entries are appended, never edited away.