Patent Law Interview Program? Forum

[Anonymous User]

Hello.

Please excuse my anon admins as I am in fear of this being received as an absolutely ridiculous question. However, I assure you its genuine.

Without plans or qualifications to take the Patent Bar I signed up for the Patent Law Interview Program at Loyola (it was only $35). After all- it did say on the website that Patent Bar eligibility was not required. And to be completely honest i have legit zero idea what field of law I want to go into, but I am hoping to land a 2L biglaw SA next summer.
My main reasoning was wanting to familiarize myself with the bidding process, and hoping that my GPA was high enough to get an interviewers attention, although probably a long shot.

Anyone ever execute this terrible plan with any type of success?

Thanks in advance, and I guess I deserve whatever insults come my way.

[GULCPerson]

Hello.

Please excuse my anon admins as I am in fear of this being received as an absolutely ridiculous question. However, I assure you its genuine.

Without plans or qualifications to take the Patent Bar I signed up for the Patent Law Interview Program at Loyola (it was only $35). After all- it did say on the website that Patent Bar eligibility was not required. And to be completely honest i have legit zero idea what field of law I want to go into, but I am hoping to land a 2L biglaw SA next summer.
My main reasoning was wanting to familiarize myself with the bidding process, and hoping that my GPA was high enough to get an interviewers attention, although probably a long shot.

Anyone ever execute this terrible plan with any type of success?

Thanks in advance, and I guess I deserve whatever insults come my way.

Nothing wrong with this plan. Many of the firms hiring at PLIP are looking for patent lit people, where it's not required or sometimes even expected that you have taken or will take the patent bar. Since the program is pre-select, you might get some hits based purely on a high GPA from a strong school, although anything you can possibly put on your resume to indicate more serious interest in patent law (or technical background, but I'm assuming you don't have that) would help quite a bit.

Ultimately, you paid $35 to bid on a pre-select interview program, which will allow you to practice bidding, if that was your goal. It's possible your GPA is good enough to snag some interviews and make it worth your while to fly to Chicago, but even if not, no harm no foul. Plenty of people on this board do plenty stupider things.

[Anonymous User]

Hello.

Please excuse my anon admins as I am in fear of this being received as an absolutely ridiculous question. However, I assure you its genuine.

Without plans or qualifications to take the Patent Bar I signed up for the Patent Law Interview Program at Loyola (it was only $35). After all- it did say on the website that Patent Bar eligibility was not required. And to be completely honest i have legit zero idea what field of law I want to go into, but I am hoping to land a 2L biglaw SA next summer.
My main reasoning was wanting to familiarize myself with the bidding process, and hoping that my GPA was high enough to get an interviewers attention, although probably a long shot.

Anyone ever execute this terrible plan with any type of success?

Thanks in advance, and I guess I deserve whatever insults come my way.

Nothing wrong with this plan. Many of the firms hiring at PLIP are looking for patent lit people, where it's not required or sometimes even expected that you have taken or will take the patent bar. Since the program is pre-select, you might get some hits based purely on a high GPA from a strong school, although anything you can possibly put on your resume to indicate more serious interest in patent law (or technical background, but I'm assuming you don't have that) would help quite a bit.

Ultimately, you paid $35 to bid on a pre-select interview program, which will allow you to practice bidding, if that was your goal. It's possible your GPA is good enough to snag some interviews and make it worth your while to fly to Chicago, but even if not, no harm no foul. Plenty of people on this board do plenty stupider things.

(OP Here) Thanks for the response - this was my thinking really. I guess we'll see what happens. Not much to lose.

[rinkrat19]

On the PLIP symplicity website, you'll be able to see which firms are willing to interview people without IP credentials. (It will be a relatively short list.) Don't bid on employers that say "only patent-bar eligible candidates" or "only candidates with degrees in EE, CS, or ME" or similar requirements that you don't meet. Some firms may say only "patent bar eligibility preferred," or won't have a requirement, and that gives you an opening. You may get some interviews, especially if you have good grades from a decent school. There are firms that hire non-patent bar people for soft IP (trademark/copyright) or sometimes even patent litigation.

Then be prepared to defend your interest in IP jobs and maybe even face some awkwardness in interviews. (I am patent bar eligible, but my engineering major is not one of the ones most sought by IP employers, and I had interviews where the attorneys clearly thought I'd basically majored in basketweaving and just sitting in the room with them with my "lesser" engineering degree was an insult to their firm. By far my worst interviewing experiences were all with IP firms.)

[Anonymous User]

On the PLIP symplicity website, you'll be able to see which firms are willing to interview people without IP credentials. (It will be a relatively short list.) Don't bid on employers that say "only patent-bar eligible candidates" or "only candidates with degrees in EE, CS, or ME" or similar requirements that you don't meet. Some firms may say only "patent bar eligibility preferred," or won't have a requirement, and that gives you an opening. You may get some interviews, especially if you have good grades from a decent school. There are firms that hire non-patent bar people for soft IP (trademark/copyright) or sometimes even patent litigation.

Then be prepared to defend your interest in IP jobs and maybe even face some awkwardness in interviews. (I am patent bar eligible, but my engineering major is not one of the ones most sought by IP employers, and I had interviews where the attorneys clearly thought I'd basically majored in basketweaving and just sitting in the room with them with my "lesser" engineering degree was an insult to their firm. By far my worst interviewing experiences were all with IP firms.)

OP Here. Thanks for the advice. Seems there are a decent amount of firms that require no patent-bar eligibility and no hard science undergrad.

Seems worth the $30 for the chance to bid.