I apologize if this has been answered before, but I haven't mastered the search function entirely and couldn't find it if it has.
i am graduating with a chemical engineering degree in may and will be able to attend a t14 law school at sticker or a t25 with a substantial scholarship. I know the legal market has been hit hard and is no where near to recovering, but have heard whispers that the IP field is a little different. The focus, however, has been on EE's, with an emphasis on PhDs for bio people. How do ChemEs fair in this?
Assuming the worst and I find only doc review on graduation from law school, would it be particularly difficult returning to the engineering field? I've had internships and part time work in the oil and gas industry, so I wouldn't be completely new to it.
Thank you
Questions about engineering exit options and the IP field Forum
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chem
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Black-Blue
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Re: Questions about engineering exit options and the IP field
You probably can, but would be looked down upon. As you probably know, education is not backward compatible. So even though a JD might open new doors, it will close old doors.chem wrote:Assuming the worst and I find only doc review on graduation from law school, would it be particularly difficult returning to the engineering field? I've had internships and part time work in the oil and gas industry, so I wouldn't be completely new to it.
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vb007
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Re: Questions about engineering exit options and the IP field
i have a bs in chemical engineering. after my 1L year, i was able to find an in-house position where the IP department had like 10-15 attorneys with chemical engineering degrees. after 2L year, i was able to find a firm job where the other IP attorneys have similar backgrounds to me. there are definitely certain areas of law that a chemical engineering degree is particularly well suited for, and where companies/firms are looking for people with our backgrounds. that said, the market is definitely smaller for chemical engineering jobs compared to EE/CS/bio. There are like 2-3 chemical engineers in my whole law school though, so you're not really competing for the specific ChE stuff with many other people.
