Pharmd to JD Forum

[Phillypharm]

Hello
Bio- UGpa 2.9
Pharmd-Grad gpa 3.5
I’m a pharmd 2021 candidate and really interested and thinking about pursuing law school to be a patent attorney. I interned at a couple pharmaceutical companies and really enjoyed shadowing the patent attorneys the most.Their day to day really intrigued me and I formed connections with a bunch of them. Anybody have any idea of my chances of my chances of either a t14 or t20 school if I score a 170+ lsat? Also any chances of scholarships with my low UGpa lol. I know schools primary fixate on undergrad gpa but was wondering if my graduate degree held any influence on my application. I’m open to any advice as well.
Thank you

[The Lsat Airbender]

Your grad degree is a decent resume line but yes, unfortunately that 2.9 is going to be a problem at most t20 schools. The main exception is WashU, which could still give you a solid scholarship if you hit 170 or better. The good news is that, if you want to be a patent attorney, it's a bit less important to go to a top school.

What you should do instead is work as a patent agent for a bit at a firm which will 1) pay for you to get your JD and then 2) hire you full-time. You can search around this forum a bit for terms like "patent agent" to learn more, and hopefully some people with direct experience will chime in in this thread.

[Phillypharm]

Thank you I appreciate the advice

[zer0sum]

I would say your chances are quite likely at a t20. I had a 2.9 undergrad gpa in engineering and a 160 lsat and got a t30 with 15k scholarship. Now at a biglaw firm. You stand in a much better spot.

I know a pharmd who killed it in law school and landed a pretty solid biglaw gig.It's a great path.

[dvlthndr]

Hello
Bio- UGpa 2.9
Pharmd-Grad gpa 3.5
I’m a pharmd 2021 candidate and really interested and thinking about pursuing law school to be a patent attorney. I interned at a couple pharmaceutical companies and really enjoyed shadowing the patent attorneys the most.Their day to day really intrigued me and I formed connections with a bunch of them. Anybody have any idea of my chances of my chances of either a t14 or t20 school if I score a 170+ lsat? Also any chances of scholarships with my low UGpa lol. I know schools primary fixate on undergrad gpa but was wondering if my graduate degree held any influence on my application. I’m open to any advice as well.
Thank you

A Pharm.D. is not going to substantially increase your chances of getting in. It's basically a soft factor (a very positive one... but still only a soft factor). You might get lucky and get into a school at the bottom of the T20 with a 2.9/170, but your odds are bad.

You posted before about some complications with your undergraduate degree. Hopefully you got those sorted out. The advice you received back then still applies. To summarize, patent attorneys come in three flavors: (1) Patent Prosecutors; (2) Patent Litigators; and (3) Patent Transaction attorneys. There is a little overlap, but Patent Prosecution--specifically life sciences and pharma Patent Prosecution--is the one area where you will get a big leg up because of your doctorate.

If you are interested in patent prosecution, the career path is usually: (1) Technical Advisor/Specialist --> (2) Patent Agent --> (3) Firm pays for school --> (4) Patent Attorney. Traditionally, firms would pay for their patent agents to attend a regional evening program (e.g., Suffolk, Fordham, GW, Temple, Loyola, Santa Clara, etc.). Some firms might be more or less generous in that regard, and I know several people with Ph.Ds who managed to negotiate for the firm to cover day-school. The reason why patent prosecutors aren't as snobbish about where you went to school is because many of the partners/clients you work with went to the same "second-tier" schools.

I'm a little rusty on which firms hire patent agents, but you might want to check on Fish & Richardson, Wilson Sonsini, Wilmer Hale, Finnegan, Ropes & Gray, Venable, Foley & Lardner, Wolf Greenfield, Cooley, MoFo, Baker Bots, Fenwick, and White & Case. You will also see job listings floating around linkedin or patentlyo.com, although these tend to be for smaller boutiques and regional firms. These can be perfectly fine positions, but part of the benefit of starting as a patent agent in Big-Law is that you basically have a guaranteed job waiting for you in Big-Law once you graduate.

Hiring is probably soft due to the virus, but it doesn't hurt to keep your eyes open for job postings. Also, it's unlikely that you could find a job as a tech specialist unless you can get your Bachelor's degree sorted out and verify that you are eligible to sit for the patent bar. If you managed to get yourself registered with the USPTO (or at least file the paperwork and confirm they will let you sit for the exam) it will greatly increase your odds of landing an entry level job as a specialist/agent. If you are interested in taking the patent bar, the gold standard is the PLI patent bar course, but I wouldn't seriously consider that unless you verify your patent bar eligibility and/or have a job locked-down.

[unknown94]

Do not go to law school. You've already been in school for a ridiculous amount of years. You're pondering entering a whole new academic venture. Go get jobs using your doctorate of pharmacy, you've earned it and can have a fantastic life!

[Phillypharm]

Thank you everybody for your advice! I’ll keep it in mind if I decide to pursue law

[supermario26]

Do a quick Linkedin search for "PharmD JD" "JD PharmD" "Pharm.D J.D." "PharmD Esq." so on so forth and you'll find people that way. See if those people have career paths that match what you would like to do and reach out to them. Worst that will happen is you get ignored.

[RandomInternetPerson]

You can always sit the Patent Bar without a JD since it have the right prelaw education. I occasionally meet lawyers who seem unable to believe that they can't do it with their liberal arts undergrad while a non lawyer like you could. And yet....you could. Just a thought. I wouldn't get the JD if you don't need it. But that's just me.