Breaking into IP law
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Anonymous
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I am a PhD student with a chemistry/biochemistry background who is interested in moving away from the bench and moving into areas such as patent law or consulting that would make use of my technical background, but not the traditional academia or industry route. One path that sounded appealing is working as a patent agent to get some experience in IP law and see if this is something I like enough to make a career out of. I'm not sold on committing to a JD either time-wise (after a decade of higher education) or financially until I am sure that it is something I need to do to advance my career in the right direction. It appears that patent agents, although they don't make as much as patent lawyers, make decent livings by PhD standards, and certainly compared to being a post-doc, which would be the next logical step if I wanted to go into academia or industry. It also seems like understanding these regulatory issues is a good set of skills and develop if I wanted to join a consulting firm or end up in management at a biotech company. Perhaps if I wanted to transition into being an attorney, I could go back to law school after working for a few years.
When I look at job listings, it seems like all of the jobs for patent agents require 1-3+ years of patent law technical experience and are not interested in hiring someone fresh out of graduate school. So my question is, is it possible to gain a paralegal job that focuses on intellectual property with a PhD? All the paralegal jobs seem to require a bachelors degree, and would make me overqualified. It seems like working as a paralegal would offer insight into what IP law entails, offer an opportunity to study for the patent bar and become familiar with the territory. Is this a route people go? Any advice would be appreciated. |
Anonymous
| I am a paralegal and yes, you are overqualified. Sorry, OP, most firms won't consider you unless you have only a bachelor's/paralegal certificate/law firm experience. I'd get into law school and clerk at an IP firm. What kinds of openings does the USPTO have for non-attorneys? |
Anonymous
| What about technical specialists? |
Anonymous
| You can apply for a Patent Examiner position at the USPTO. That's how lots of us got our start. |
Anonymous
| Definitely start at the patent office. There is a big hiring push right now, where they are looking to hire hundreds of attorneys. Once you are here for a while, you can figure out whether you want to go to a law firm. You may find that you enjoy what you are doing at the patent office, and stay. There are a lot of AMAZING benefits! |
Anonymous
| PP here... not hundreds of attorneys. Hundreds of examiners. |
Anonymous
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IP Partner here. Skip the paralegal route and go the to USPTO as an examiner. The trend these days is to use patent agents for patent application work and keep patent attorneys on the more lucrative legal work, but most firms do not want to teach a Ph.D patent law. I am not convinced the PTO does that too well anymore, but it is a good place to start. Some patent boutique firms might also be willing to hire you without a J.D. and train you to do the patent work. Honestly, I really don't advise anyone to go to law school right now, although it is better than a couple of years ago. Way too expensive, and patent agents can make a solid living without ever thinking of law school. Once you have the J.D. there is pressure to develop clients and make partner. You can skip all that as an examiner and as an agent.
You might also cold call hiring partners at som IP firms by doing a search of patents and applications on the PTO website looking for patent and applications in your speciality or looking for applicants that you know do the work you are specifically technically trained for. One of the firms that filed those applications might be willing to train you on the law to get your specific speciality in their firm. |
Anonymous
| Another lawyer here to say that 17:15's advice is excellent. |
Anonymous
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OP here. Thanks so much for your advice. In the bubble of graduate school, and can be really difficult to get a handle on what options are out there besides getting a postdoc and going into academia (which is a completely miserable job market). I have a few friends in graduate school who got jobs as patent examiners through USPTO and they seem to generally enjoy the work. One question--DH is interested in a more traditional type of PhD career and will likely want to do a post-doc followed by academia or working as an R&D scientist, and for this stage of his career there are not as many options in the DC area. Do patent evaluator jobs exist in branches outside of DC? All my peers who have gone onto that path have ended up in DC.
We are looking at biotech hubs to best coordinate our careers (San Diego, Boston, San Francisco), and it seems like a lot of IP firms are based out of those areas (as well as job opportunities in consulting, biotech, and great academic post-docs). It seems like one path some take is getting hired as a technical specialist, and becoming an agent once they pass the patent bar--however most firms as you mentioned don't seem to want to train PhDs. Would your advice be to look for smaller boutique type firms? My father is a Big Law lawyer (although he's in tax law, and doesn't know much about IP), and he has made me very skeptical of entering law school, and it does seem like working as a patent agent offers an opportunity to make a decent living without incurring a lot of risky debt. Another question--I feel sleazy asking this since my parents have always instilled a sense of independence in us, but would it be worthwhile to try to network with some colleagues/partners in my dad's firm? |
Anonymous
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There aren't many of these programs out there but worth searching for since they pay for law school:
http://www.jonesdaycareers.com/offices/office_detail.aspx?office=26&subsection=8§ion=IPLegalInternsTab2 |
Anonymous
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Talk to the friends you have at the patent office. I think there is a San Jose California branch but I don't know if you can start off there.
A lot of the patent examiners go to law school in the evening. There used to be a program where the patent office paid for their tuition. I do not know if that still exist. FYI, being a patent examiner is a pretty tough job. |
Anonymous
Yeah, I don't mind working hard and hustling. I just am starting to find benchwork unfulfilling (although have been told that I am a strong technical writer, and am generally pretty good at reading, synthesizing, and presenting information), and have deep concerns about the funding climate and academic job market as it stands right now and seeking out alternatives. |
Anonymous
+1. IP lawyer here |
Anonymous
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Try to volunteer or do an internship at your university's tech transfer office. This will give you experience and useful contacts.
Also see if you can audit a patent law class at a local university. I sat in on Georgetown's patent law class several years ago, and the professors were very nice. It was an interesting experience, but also helped me decide that I wanted to stay on the bench. Apply for technical specialist jobs at IP law firms. Most of them will eventually want you to go to law school. If you are a US citizen then the USPTO is a good option. |
Anonymous
| Also since your dad is a lawyer by all means use the contacts you have. |