Patent bar? Forum

[3pianists]

A friend who's a 3L at Emory keeps telling me that being patent bar eligible will give me an admissions boost. Based on my current curricular plan, I'll be one class short of eligibility when I graduate. Does that sound like BS, or should I consider squeezing that extra class in next semester? (I have no interest in patent law.)

[fats provolone]

no

[3pianists]

no

[Harry_Pluxen]

Don't mean to hijack your thread - but does the science requirement for patent bar only apply to patent law? Are there other areas of law that require specific undergraduate requirements?

[antiworldly]

It will help your employment prospects coming out of law school if you're looking to do IP. If you're not, like it sounds like you aren't, it won't do anything. It might be nice to have that option just in case you change your mind. You could end up kicking yourself in three years if it turns out you really like it once you do it a bit, or find you like lit and then it'd be easier to spin yourself as IP lit. However it does nothing for the application process. Even advanced degrees (Ph.D. in chem here) don't help terribly much. My app season looked basically like you'd expect based upon my numbers, with the Ph.D. acting as more of a tie-breaker than a boost.

[ihenry]

Don't mean to hijack your thread - but does the science requirement for patent bar only apply to patent law? Are there other areas of law that require specific undergraduate requirements?

So far as I'm aware of, only patent bar has science degree requirement, or requirement of any degree other than JD. But hard prerequisites aside, it often comes down to how desirable you are as a candidate for a specific area. Like if you want to practice law on auditing/accounting, without a relevant background you may be severely disadvantaged.

[Harry_Pluxen]

Don't mean to hijack your thread - but does the science requirement for patent bar only apply to patent law? Are there other areas of law that require specific undergraduate requirements?

So far as I'm aware of, only patent bar has science degree requirement, or requirement of any degree other than JD. But hard prerequisites aside, it often comes down to how desirable you are as a candidate for a specific area. Like if you want to practice law on auditing/accounting, without a relevant background you may be severely disadvantaged.

Makes sense, thanks for the info.

The science degree background does only apply yo Patent law though, correct? ie. not soft IP such as trademarks & such?

[ihenry]

Don't mean to hijack your thread - but does the science requirement for patent bar only apply to patent law? Are there other areas of law that require specific undergraduate requirements?

So far as I'm aware of, only patent bar has science degree requirement, or requirement of any degree other than JD. But hard prerequisites aside, it often comes down to how desirable you are as a candidate for a specific area. Like if you want to practice law on auditing/accounting, without a relevant background you may be severely disadvantaged.

Makes sense, thanks for the info.

The science degree background does only apply yo Patent law though, correct? ie. not soft IP such as trademarks & such?

Soft IP does not require hard science background, but does not get as much a boost either.

[Troianii]

A friend who's a 3L at Emory keeps telling me that being patent bar eligible will give me an admissions boost. Based on my current curricular plan, I'll be one class short of eligibility when I graduate. Does that sound like BS, or should I consider squeezing that extra class in next semester? (I have no interest in patent law.)

Most likely not. Maybe, but at most a small boost. Schools like having patent law grads because patent law grads generally make bank, and that can potentially make ill-informed people applying to their law school think that they have a decent shot of making bank just by going to the law school.

But, again, and adcom usually won't care much about this. More significantly, if you have an engineering or science undergrad most adcoms will be more understanding of a slightly lower GPA, just because a physics 3.7 is more impressive than a communication studies 3.7. But even then that's a "maybe' - schools are rankings wh***s and probably still want to boost their medians more than they are going to be understanding of your circumstance. :/

Also, great avatar.

[3pianists]

Also, great avatar.

Picard is the man.

(My GPA is above HYS 75ths, so I'm not too worried about that! Really just trying to figure out what to prioritize in my last semester.)

[Troianii]

Also, great avatar.

Picard is the man.

(My GPA is above HYS 75ths, so I'm not too worried about that! Really just trying to figure out what to prioritize in my last semester.)

If you're interested in patent law, then fill in that req your friend was talking about. If it isn't much, then I'd fill it in anyway. The truth is that most people change their minds about what they want to do during 0L or 1L - best to keep your options open.

And yeah Picard is the man. For all the flak he gets, I still like Picard. The Captains on most of the other ones were pretty lackluster. The lacked that je ne sais pas.

[fats provolone]

what is your major

if it isn't already patent bar eligible then my guess is you aren't going to be that marketable for patent prosecution even with a bar #. but it depends on the major.

[3pianists]

what is your major

if it isn't already patent bar eligible then my guess is you aren't going to be that marketable for patent prosecution even with a bar #. but it depends on the major.

Piano major, math and physics minors with a biosciences thesis, peer-reviewed scientific journal publication, and a dozen academic conference presentations under my belt. Probably still not super eligible?

Seriously guys, thanks for the replies! Wasn't expecting much!