Urgent? Really?

I came across this thought the other day. To be honest, I completely agree. On the other hand though, as an attorney dealing with urgent cases quite frequently, it does not matter what I think of this quote, I still take care of the urgent cases... Clients first.

However, I am really curious why there are so many urgent cases in the patent and trademark business. What might be the main reason for clients sending last-minute instructions?

For example, regarding validation, before the 3-month time period for validation there is a quite long period starting with the R.71(3) EPC communication of intention to grant. Patent proprietors have at least 6 months to figure out where they want to validate. Is it lack of funding? Are they not informed by the attorneys that the steps cannot be done in a few days? Validation is just a small example, we could also talk about Euro-PCT entry or responding to office actions.

I am really interested in hearing your opinion and learning from other attorneys!