Aspiring Patent Attorney Forum

[engineer2law]

Hello,

I have been working as a engineer in the subsea oil industry in Houston, TX for a few years and have decided that now is a good time to pursue my goal of becoming a patent attorney. I know there are similar threads like this, but I am wondering which schools would be best for reaching my goal.

I have applied to University of Houston, SMU, and University of Texas and am expecting to get into at least UH and SMU, but probably at sticker price (my numbers are 158 and 3.6). Through my research I have seen that the market for patent attorneys is fairly strong in Texas. I am wondering if it is strong enough to where I could end up with a job at a large firm even if I went to a lower ranked school, such as South Texas or Texas A&M. My reasoning for wanting to go to a lower ranked school is not having to take out as much in loans.

I have seen a lot of different opinions on the importance of school rank for patent attorneys. I am hoping that some of you might be able to help clarify.

Thanks in Advance,

[fats provolone]

you should retake until you can go to UT with $$$

[84651846190]

You should not apply to law school with anything less than a 165. You are smart enough to get a 165. Now go do it

[A@M_or_bust]

I would ask this question after you retaken the LSAT and increased your score a bit. Based on your current score, UH or SMU would not give you enough money to justify attending. With a 167, you are looking at a full ride from UH and most likely accepted with some money at UT.

[totesTheGoat]

Hello,

I have been working as a engineer in the subsea oil industry in Houston, TX for a few years and have decided that now is a good time to pursue my goal of becoming a patent attorney. I know there are similar threads like this, but I am wondering which schools would be best for reaching my goal.

I have applied to University of Houston, SMU, and University of Texas and am expecting to get into at least UH and SMU, but probably at sticker price (my numbers are 158 and 3.6). Through my research I have seen that the market for patent attorneys is fairly strong in Texas. I am wondering if it is strong enough to where I could end up with a job at a large firm even if I went to a lower ranked school, such as South Texas or Texas A&M. My reasoning for wanting to go to a lower ranked school is not having to take out as much in loans.

I have seen a lot of different opinions on the importance of school rank for patent attorneys. I am hoping that some of you might be able to help clarify.

Thanks in Advance,

1) retake and get in the mid 160s at least. You will start to get money from UH, SMU, and UT. As a datapoint, I had a 174 and a 3.45 along with 2 years of engineering work experience and got into UT with $ and SMU with $$$. I didn't apply to UH because I don't like Houston.

2) Go to the top tier schools, because you have the credentials to get significant money from them. Get the LSAT up (it's a learnable test, you just need to put in the hours), and your scholarships should be decent. The lower ranked schools will give you less debt, but you will have a significantly harder climb to the good patent jobs.

3) as a datapoint, I have met maybe 3 or 4 A&M law students/grads and all of 1 South TX law student, and none of them had biglaw jobs. It's certainly not impossible, but I bump into UT and SMU grads in biglaw all the time in Dallas.

4) Feel free to PM me about this, because I'm pretty much 3 years out from having been in the exact same position.

[Traynor Brah]

Your employment prospects at any school in texas that is not UT will not be strong enough to justify giving up your current career. At SMU or UH, even with a full ride (which you are certainly not getting with your current numbers), you are looking at giving up three and a half years of income and spending that COL either out of pocket or with loans for, at best, a 20% shot at a job that will have made the career change worth it.

It's objectively a poor decision to attend either SMU or UH, for you; it's would be an egregiously poor decision to attend a South Texas or an A&M (or any other school in Texas). Retake to get UT (it's worth the debt, comparatively), or don't go at all. Good luck.

[totesTheGoat]

Your employment prospects at any school in texas that is not UT will not be strong enough to justify giving up your current career. At SMU or UH, even with a full ride (which you are certainly not getting with your current numbers), you are looking at giving up three and a half years of income and spending that COL either out of pocket or with loans for, at best, a 20% shot at a job that will have made the career change worth it.

It's objectively a poor decision to attend either SMU or UH, for you; it's would be an egregiously poor decision to attend a South Texas or an A&M (or any other school in Texas). Retake to get UT (it's worth the debt, comparatively), or don't go at all. Good luck.

Ignore that advice. It's obvious that Traynor Brah has no clue about the Texas patent law market.

[Traynor Brah]

OP would get little to no scholarship at SMU or UH. We're talking well over six figures of debt and three and a half years of no income (and I assume OP has a significantly higher opportunity cost than most 0Ls) for schools that place fewer than a quarter of their graduates in biglaw. Even if his work/undergrad experience makes him a legit biglaw candidate with any above median grades at UH or SMU, I would say it's a poor risk to take. OP is certainly capable of retaking to get into UT, one would think, so if he's going to give up his current career to become an attorney, he might as well not fuck around.

[totesTheGoat]

OP needs to retake no matter what. Then, after retake, OP can look at UT, SMU, and UH. A patent bar eligible student at SMU or UH has much more than a 20% or 25% chance of getting into biglaw. It's probably closer to 40% or 50%. I know a bunch of patent bar eligible 2Ls and 3Ls at SMU, and 80% of the ones I can think of off the top of my head are going to biglaw this summer (whether full-time or on a 2LSA). I'm not sure of the plans of the other 20%.

[A@M_or_bust]

Can we all agree that Traynor Brah is just a pretty boy with subpar legal advice???

[joeyc328]

You will be fine if you want to do patent prosecution, but if you want to litigate retake.