patent law after 1L = patent law for life? Forum

[englawyer]

if one takes a patent/ip internship between 1L and 2L, after passing the patent bar, is there an expectation to practice in the same area during 2L internship (even at a different law firm) and then in a subsequent career? I am interested in IP, but not fully committed. a 1L summer internship could be good to get experience in that area.

Thanks!

[thegor1987]

can't you practice various areas of the law for a firm? Or do firms give the IP guys all the patent work making variety scarce? I'm not sure how legal employment works but would be interested to know this myself

[CE2JD]

if one takes a patent/ip internship between 1L and 2L, after passing the patent bar, is there an expectation to practice in the same area during 2L internship (even at a different law firm) and then in a subsequent career? I am interested in IP, but not fully committed. a 1L summer internship could be good to get experience in that area.

Thanks!

WILL YOU COMMIT TO THIS PROGRAM?

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I think it's getting easier to work in other areas of law after initially working in IP. Especially if you sell yourself as an expert litigator. Patent prosecutors are still somewhat pigeon-holed from what I hear.

[CE2JD]

can't you practice various areas of the law for a firm? Or do firms give the IP guys all the patent work making variety scarce? I'm not sure how legal employment works but would be interested to know this myself

Take a look at the websites of various law firms and you'll see that at the big international firms there are attorneys who do all kinds of working including some IP stuff. But for the most part, hardcore patent prosecutors don't venture into say... mergers and acquisitions. Firms DO want you to specialize somewhat because you're useless to them if you're just pretty good at a whole bunch of stuff and not REALLY good at ANYTHING (although I suppose you could be really good at EVERYTHING if you were God).