Questions about employment (IP and patent law) Forum

[Chosen one]

I keep reading on this forum that there are to many lawyers and to many law schools.
I wanted to know if the IP/patent law field and health care law field was over saturated all so.
If a person main interest and focus are in these fields is the market any better?

[Chickensoup]

I keep reading on this forum that there are to many lawyers and to many law schools.
I wanted to know if the IP/patent law field and health care law field was over saturated all so.
If a person main interest and focus are in these fields is the market any better?

The people on this forum don't know all the facts. If you have a technical background, I've heard IP/patent law is a great field to go into.

[ajax]

I keep reading on this forum that there are to many lawyers and to many law schools.
I wanted to know if the IP/patent law field and health care law field was over saturated all so.
If a person main interest and focus are in these fields is the market any better?

The people on this forum don't know all the facts. If you have a technical background, I've heard IP/patent law is a great field to go into.

The people on this forum do know their facts. Here they are:

http://www.lawschooltransparency.com/

Go to that website. Click on a school you are interested in attending. See how many people found full time employment upon graduation that required a law degree.

Cheers.

[ajax]

I keep reading on this forum that there are to many lawyers and to many law schools.
I wanted to know if the IP/patent law field and health care law field was over saturated all so.
If a person main interest and focus are in these fields is the market any better?

The people on this forum don't know all the facts. If you have a technical background, I've heard IP/patent law is a great field to go into.

I've heard chickensoup is a grade A shill.

[Chickensoup]

There is no such thing as personalized advice on this forum. For OP, law school might be a great idea. With the proper technical background, it is possible to make a KILLING in IP.

[ajax]

There is no such thing as personalized advice on this forum. For OP, law school might be a great idea. With the proper technical background, it is possible to make a KILLING in IP.

It is also quite possible to become a slave to debt. Actually, in most cases it is more likely that law school for you, and for everyone else is a bad idea. See the link I posted above for an idea of your job prospects, then see this calculator for an idea of how much debt you will have:

http://www.law.georgetown.edu/admission ... geid=61621

Until law schools drastically decrease tuition, the legal market improves, or a combination of both, law school will be a bad idea for most students. This of course I'm sure doesn't apply to you, because you think like every other potential 1L that you are not most students. Have fun with that in three years.

[vanwinkle]

Moved to a more helpful forum; thread renamed to attract better responses.

OP: From what I personally understand, jobs for patent-bar-eligible attorneys are still booming. Hopefully one of our resident experts on IP employment can give you more specific info.

It will still matter what school you graduate from. Even as patent bar members, a CLS grad will have a much better time finding work than a CUNY grad. Do you know what range of schools you're applying to?

[vanwinkle]

The people on this forum don't know all the facts.

OP should be aware that Chickensoup is a clueless 0L, and doesn't know any of the facts.

[badaboom61]

I had a friend who passed the patent bar before he started 1L then went to a midwestern TTT. He ended up with a 1L SA at a small IP boutique. Can't speak about his grades, though.

[piccolittle]

I think the consensus here is that IP is an exception to the usual employment risks meme. Being patent bar eligible is the first step, but having the right degree and background is important too. From what I understand, EE and CS are the most marketable degrees, and having work experience is always extremely helpful.

[typ3]

I think the consensus here is that IP is an exception to the usual employment risks meme. Being patent bar eligible is the first step, but having the right degree and background is important too. From what I understand, EE and CS are the most marketable degrees, and having work experience is always extremely helpful.

It depends on the market for IP like most law.

I know some techs in the Midwest readily hiring for patent but no one wants to go to cities / towns with 150k-800k people. If you're dead set on a big city any law degree is a poor choice regardless if you're going into IP or not. Those markets are glutted with laid of lawyers and the law schools are pumping out plenty of grads for places to get their pick of slave labor.

[dcgirl1013]

I worked as a paralegal for an IP boutique in DC, and IP is definitely a growing field compared to other practice areas. However there are an enormous amount of people wanting to practice IP now, and in order to be competitive you need at least a masters, really a PhD, and not just the ability to pass the patent bar. For perspective I sorted through all applications our firm got and I threw 50+ applications a day in the trash and probably 10+ had PhDs but that was not enough for even an interview

[lukertin]

I worked as a paralegal for an IP boutique in DC, and IP is definitely a growing field compared to other practice areas. However there are an enormous amount of people wanting to practice IP now, and in order to be competitive you need at least a masters, really a PhD, and not just the ability to pass the patent bar. For perspective I sorted through all applications our firm got and I threw 50+ applications a day in the trash and probably 10+ had PhDs but that was not enough for even an interview

I'm sorry but this is an incredibly ridiculous statement, as barely anyone in the engineering field bothers getting a masters, and even less bother getting a PhD. I'm sure that PhDs are required for prosecuting biotech/pharma cases (and in most cases, firms will require a PhD for anyone trying to get a job in those technology areas) but that represents a tiny percentage of patent applications (10%?).

It's utterly laughable to think that more than B.S. is required for the vast majority of EE/CS/CE technology areas. Who the hell even gets a PhD in something like EE or CS and then decides they want to go into law?

OP: From what I personally understand, jobs for patent-bar-eligible attorneys are still booming. Hopefully one of our resident experts on IP employment can give you more specific info.

IP might be doing better than the rest of the legal field but it is a severe over-exaggeration to say that it is 'booming', or even 'still booming'. Something like 30-50% of new hires at the USPTO are JDs, and that's not counting the JD graduates with technical degrees begging at the door to get in.

Perhaps by the time you graduate, Kappos will have implemented the student loan payback program and you won't be afraid to take on 100k+ of debt!

[09042014]

It's a big boost, but it's far from total employment.

Different IP firms prefer different backgrounds. Some specialize in really high prosecution and may prefer tech backgrounds. Others just want a decent law student who has a tech degree.