Loyola Patent Fair Forum

[dreman510]

My school just sent out emails about it.
Anyone have any experience with it?
Is it like a giant OCI?

[Anonymous User]

Yes, it is a big OCI for patent geeks.

I didn't go b/c I was only interested in my school's home market. Then by the time my 2L OCI rolled around, a couple of the patent groups at the firms in town had already filled out their summer classes with Loyala interviewees.

Moral of the story: Go to Loyola regardless of what market you are interested in.

[LawSchoolWannaBe]

Definitely worth it if you can get at least a few interviews.

You pay an application fee (schools/orgs might pay it for you) and submit your resume to ~30 firms/offices. After the firms do their screening you'll get to see how many interviews (preselect/alternate) you have and can decide if you want to make the trip to Chicago.

It's a hectic two days (walking from room to room all day for two days), but there are tons of firms there from all over the country.

FWIW, numerous friends got jobs out of PLIP.

[Anonymous User]

Last year it seemed as if some people had a ton of interviews and others only had a few. If you're one of the blessed ones with 15+ interviews, seriously consider dropping some of them. I tried to do 15 interviews in one day and many of them were just wasted chances. I was frazzled, couldn't keep the firms straight, and did not enjoy the process. If you have more than 3 back-to-back interviews, consider canceling some so that you can do your best at the ones do really want. More isn't always better.

I wish I can canceled a few of my Loyola slots and just bid on them in my school's OCI. Then the interviews would have been spread out over that week and I would have been more composed and able to really make a good impression.

That said, I also though that the callback process was more competitive from Loyola than from my school's OCI. I think that's because Loyola was prescreened, but my school's OCI wasn't. If a firm was going to callback 2 out of 40 interviews, I did much better in the non-prescreened group than the prescreened group. I felt like firms had "quotas" and planned on distributing their hires amongst the different interviewing opportunities. (i.e. 2 from Loyola, 2 from NYU, 1 from Cornell, 1 from Chi, 1 from GULC, etc) I did not get many of the Loyola callback slots, but did much better at my school's OCI. I attribute this to three factors (1) national competition at Loyola where even a PhD or years of work experience isn't that unique, (2) a prescreened interview pool, and (3) being frazzled by too many interviews all at the same time.

Nonetheless, if you want to do patents, go to the Loyola fair. It's worth it.

[Anonymous User]

Last year it seemed as if some people had a ton of interviews and others only had a few. If you're one of the blessed ones with 15+ interviews, seriously consider dropping some of them. I tried to do 15 interviews in one day and many of them were just wasted chances. I was frazzled, couldn't keep the firms straight, and did not enjoy the process. If you have more than 3 back-to-back interviews, consider canceling some so that you can do your best at the ones do really want. More isn't always better.

I wish I can canceled a few of my Loyola slots and just bid on them in my school's OCI. Then the interviews would have been spread out over that week and I would have been more composed and able to really make a good impression.

That said, I also though that the callback process was more competitive from Loyola than from my school's OCI. I think that's because Loyola was prescreened, but my school's OCI wasn't. If a firm was going to callback 2 out of 40 interviews, I did much better in the non-prescreened group than the prescreened group. I felt like firms had "quotas" and planned on distributing their hires amongst the different interviewing opportunities. (i.e. 2 from Loyola, 2 from NYU, 1 from Cornell, 1 from Chi, 1 from GULC, etc) I did not get many of the Loyola callback slots, but did much better at my school's OCI. I attribute this to three factors (1) national competition at Loyola where even a PhD or years of work experience isn't that unique, (2) a prescreened interview pool, and (3) being frazzled by too many interviews all at the same time.

Nonetheless, if you want to do patents, go to the Loyola fair. It's worth it.

Are you able to interview with firms and then bid on the SAME ones at your schools OCI? Also, it appears that when you submit your resume and bid for interviews, only your first semester grades are in-do they matter more?

[dreman510]

Do most people who get interviews there have masters degrees or PhDs?

[LawSchoolWannaBe]

I had quite a few and only have a BS. Friends were in the same situation as me with only a BS. BS for engineering seems to be enough, but maybe not for Bio.

[dreman510]

I had quite a few and only have a BS. Friends were in the same situation as me with only a BS. BS for engineering seems to be enough, but maybe not for Bio.

Did they care a lot about law school grades? Undergrad science grades? How about work experience?

[awesomepossum]

I had quite a few and only have a BS. Friends were in the same situation as me with only a BS. BS for engineering seems to be enough, but maybe not for Bio.

Did they care a lot about law school grades? Undergrad science grades? How about work experience?

On balance, general practice firms care more about law school grades than boutiques.

Boutiques tend to care about undergrad grades while most (all?) GPs won't even ask for them.

Dunno about work experience.



I thought the loyola program was quite good and great practice for OCI really. I actually did 19 and ended up taking a job from one of them albeit after my school's own OCI.

[dreman510]

I had quite a few and only have a BS. Friends were in the same situation as me with only a BS. BS for engineering seems to be enough, but maybe not for Bio.

Did they care a lot about law school grades? Undergrad science grades? How about work experience?

On balance, general practice firms care more about law school grades than boutiques.

Boutiques tend to care about undergrad grades while most (all?) GPs won't even ask for them.

Dunno about work experience.



I thought the loyola program was quite good and great practice for OCI really. I actually did 19 and ended up taking a job from one of them albeit after my school's own OCI.

Thanks! Are callbacks during the fair or are they at the firms offices in their locations?

[Anonymous User]

I had quite a few and only have a BS. Friends were in the same situation as me with only a BS. BS for engineering seems to be enough, but maybe not for Bio.

Did they care a lot about law school grades? Undergrad science grades? How about work experience?

On balance, general practice firms care more about law school grades than boutiques.

Boutiques tend to care about undergrad grades while most (all?) GPs won't even ask for them.

Dunno about work experience.



I thought the loyola program was quite good and great practice for OCI really. I actually did 19 and ended up taking a job from one of them albeit after my school's own OCI.

Thanks! Are callbacks during the fair or are they at the firms offices in their locations?

at their offices. I got some callbacks a few days later, a few callbacks MUCH later...after my school's OCI.

[dreman510]

at their offices. I got some callbacks a few days later, a few callbacks MUCH later...after my school's OCI.

Is it possible to interview with some firms at Loyola and then again at OCI?

[LawSchoolWannaBe]

For a different office, maybe.

[wiseowl]

It's worth noting that if you are applying to a general practice firm, you are in no way guaranteed an interview with an IP-related person at your school's OCI, while at Loyola those chances approach 100%.

I'd take any chance I can get at Loyola and not "put off" any apps.

1.) it's good to get in early - Loyola is before any OCI
2.) as above, you could get a tax lawyer as your interviewer on campus who neither knows nor cares about your science background.

[dreman510]

It's worth noting that if you are applying to a general practice firm, you are in no way guaranteed an interview with an IP-related person at your school's OCI, while at Loyola those chances approach 100%.

I'd take any chance I can get at Loyola and not "put off" any apps.

1.) it's good to get in early - Loyola is before any OCI
2.) as above, you could get a tax lawyer as your interviewer on campus who neither knows nor cares about your science background.

Thanks, that makes a lot of sense...

[awesomepossum]

It's worth noting that if you are applying to a general practice firm, you are in no way guaranteed an interview with an IP-related person at your school's OCI, while at Loyola those chances approach 100%.

I'd take any chance I can get at Loyola and not "put off" any apps.

1.) it's good to get in early - Loyola is before any OCI
2.) as above, you could get a tax lawyer as your interviewer on campus who neither knows nor cares about your science background.

1) is not NECESSARILY good. I don't know how NALP rules might change for you guys, but my year firms were pretty loosey goosey about setting how many weeks you had to answer an offer. My problem came because I had an offer that was set to expire DURING my OCI. Especially given the fears of the economy, that was a pretty tricky problem. Take the offer because it was a 'bird in hand' or take a risk and hope that another offer would materialize.

2) For a lot of firms with IP, strong IP folks are a priority. Therefore, while you might not get an IP person interviewing you at OCI for a GP firm, you are likely to get forwarded over to IP and they'll callback/offer you from there. It's not a big deal.

Lest it seem like I don't like the Loyola program, I'll say I think it's great....especially since I ended up taking my upcoming summer from there.