Job prospects for Patent Law??

Parent Cafe
1

<p>I’ve heard that the job prospects for new law school grads in general right now aren’t very good due to the economy but I’m wondering about the job prospects for a new law school grad with an undergrad Computer Science degree who wants to pursue patent law. I’ve heard that the prospects for patent law are very good despite the economy.</p>

<p>Any words of wisdom on patent law job prospects or that field in general?</p>

2

<p>Is s/he absolutely sure about going into patent law? Patent law is not for everyone. As far as job prospects, I’d say they are still pretty dim for newly minted patent attorneys with zero patent prosecution history. Send your kid this link and let him poke around this very informative site (especially the message board):</p>

<p>[The</a> Intellectual Property Law Server](<a href=“http://www.intelproplaw.com/]The”>http://www.intelproplaw.com/)</p>

<p>And this:</p>

<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/law-school/235271-overview-patent-intellectual-property-law.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/law-school/235271-overview-patent-intellectual-property-law.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

3

<p>U U dad, you might want to post this on the law school forum. There are more lawyers who hang out there than in the Cafe.</p>

4

<p>Thanks - I’ll check out the links. I’ll also maybe post this in the law school thread - I actually meant to post this in the regular Parent’s Forum. </p>

<p>So far this is just exploration.</p>

5

<p>A couple of firms I am well acquainted with have pulled back from doing Patent work because some of their major clients have brought that work in-house. I’m not sure how much new job availability there is in either law schools or corporations right now. Here in New York, the market is stabilizing now. Not growing. But definitely stabilizing. I don’t think it will ever be what it was before.</p>

6

<p>Anecdotally, it appears that there are companies out there that just acquire IP for the purpose of suing companies that may or may not actually have a case. Companies have to hire lawyers or companies to defend themselves. So it might really be a growth area.</p>

7

<p>^^That’s what I hear, ZM! Deifnitely happened at several tech companies I know of. It was cheaper and more efficient for them to hire an in-house lawyer than pay outrageous fees to outside counsel. While companies still retain an outside counsel, they do most of the drafting and strategic IP planning internally. However, this does not mean more job opportunities for fresh law school graduates - tech companies are not going to hire a novice attorney, they want someone with experience.</p>

<p>U<em>U</em>dad, your kid might want to look into working for a law firm as a tech spec for a few years to see if s/he likes the IP field. Law firms and companies like Intellectual Ventures (the brain child of MSFT founders and a major “patent ■■■■■” according to some folks) sometimes have job openings for tech spechs with CS background. Or s/he can try to study for and take the USPTO patent bar exam and become a Patent Agent. One does not need to be a lawyer to be able to do it. S/he just need to meet the technical and educational requirements of the USPTO as spelled out here: <a href=“http://patbar.com/support/grb.pdf[/url]”>http://patbar.com/support/grb.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>Good luck to your kiddo!</p>