A Passion for New Experiences to Learn and Grow

Day Pitney partner Alex P. Garens first showed an interest in being a lawyer at the young age of seven, when he made a formal plea to his family for central air conditioning and a swimming pool. With his natural abilities for reasoning and rhetoric, Alex presented an argument to his parents, complete with exhibits. "I did win on the AC," he confirmed.

Since then, Alex has actively pursued his passion for the law and new experiences to learn and grow in his career. He majored in pre-law at the University of Wisconsin at Madison and also majored in both Spanish and Japanese in his elective schedule. In his work today, Alex enjoys opportunities to communicate in both languages with clients across the globe. His passion for intellectual property sparked early on from his fascination with the connection between culture and the law.

After graduating from Boston University School of Law, Alex pursued his interest in intellectual property law at a boutique IP firm before joining Day Pitney's Boston office in 2015. He was attracted to Day Pitney's strength in a breadth of diverse practices, including a talented and robust IP team.

As part of Day Pitney's Intellectual Property and Technology teams, Alex's practice lives at the intersection of intellectual property and technology, advising clients on trademark, copyright and advertising issues. Over the years, his practice has evolved to focus on assisting clients with structuring, drafting and negotiating agreements and transactions that relate to intellectual property, data, technology, and privacy. Throughout his career, Alex has been instrumental in protecting not only clients' legal interests, but their practical business interests as well. He greatly enjoys keeping up with the ever-changing technology and industry trends, noting that it keeps him learning new things every day.

"It's really important to see the big picture," Alex said. "I always take the time to get to know my clients' businesses and tailor my guidance to meet their objectives. More than a lawyer, I seek to be a trusted advisor."

Scott Fogg, Vice President, Vendor & Supply Chain, and Associate General Counsel at Planet Fitness World Headquarters, is a client who appreciates Alex's understanding of their business goals.

"Alex has been instrumental to the success of Planet's ability to protect and enforce its trademarks and intellectual property," Fogg said. "Not only does Alex know this area of law extremely well, he has the ability to take very complex legal theory/application and translate it in very effective, easy-to-understand terms."

The in-house team at Planet Fitness was especially impressed with Alex's efficiency in helping the company with its domestic and international trademark portfolio, as well as with data privacy. "Alex has been a tremendous resource in building and adapting our data privacy compliance program," said Jason Bauman, Associate General Counsel, Franchising. "He has skillfully helped us navigate a complicated and rapidly changing patchwork of data privacy laws and regulations. Alex is also an incredibly nice person, who is both a tough negotiator and a pleasure to interact with."

Outside of work, Alex spends time reading, watching movies, hiking, and gardening. Alex is passionate about assisting the people of his city facing homelessness, and when walking throughout Boston, he always carries with him small pre-packaged bags of necessities to give anyone he meets who may be in need of help, or as he puts it, "a small act of kindness and recognition."