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Anyone have any idea which firms will be at the SFIPLA Bay Area Intellectual Property Job Fair this year (other than by looking at who came last year)? I'm not too keen on paying the fee without knowing how many/which firms will be there. Also, did anyone go to this last year, and if so how did it go?

There are a few threads on this from past years, but info seems kind of sparse. Just bumping to say I'm definitely going (I'll take any chance at a job).

I went last year. Got a couple of callbacks out of it.

Post more specific questions that you'd like answers to and I can try.

Just figured I'd get the ball rolling on the 2012 thread.

I went last year. Got a couple of callbacks out of it.

Pretty impressive, considering there were only 11 or so firms. Did you have the same success rate at Loyola PLIP, i.e. do you think it's easier to get callbacks there or are you just that awesome?

Is it all patent prosecution stuff, or do you think non-science backgrounds will have any luck?

Did anyone know if we must register for the SFIPLA member before placing bids?

After registering on the Symplicity, I don't find how to place the bids.

Anonymous User wrote:Did anyone know if we must register for the SFIPLA member before placing bids?

After registering on the Symplicity, I don't find how to place the bids.

We won't be able to until June 4, according to --LinkRemoved--

omnomnom wrote:Just figured I'd get the ball rolling on the 2012 thread.

I went last year. Got a couple of callbacks out of it.

Pretty impressive, considering there were only 11 or so firms. Did you have the same success rate at Loyola PLIP, i.e. do you think it's easier to get callbacks there or are you just that awesome?

haha, i wouldn't ever be so bold as to call my self awesome like that. my success percentage was higher at SFIPLA. There are fewer firms but also a lot fewer applicants. So while you are still up against berkeley stanford, you don't see as many people from other top schools showing up. And LA people seemed to stay out of it because of their natural hatred for the bay. Lion's share was Hastings and Davis folks. I only remember like 2 out of staters aside from myself that i met there.

I got the same number of callbacks from PLIP. # of offers from each was almost the same.

General comment on the fair as a whole, it seems very... "budget." They just do it the library at Hastings so it feels kind of strange. A lot of the interviewers were not very prepared (like I walk in and they say "who are you") so I thought it was going to be a total bust and ended up just treating the interviews as "shoot the shit" time. Surprise surprise when that actually went favorably.

There are not a ton of firms there, but there are certainly some gems that, if you are interested in, it's worth it to take a shot. Opportunities are there for the taking.

Is this for minorities only

Bucket wrote:Is this for minorities only

no this is the SF Intellectual Property Law Association Fair.
There is a Bay Area Diversity Fair as well. Keep in mind though, while diversity fairs bear the moniker, they can't exclude people based on race. Non-minorities can still apply to diversity fairs as long as they are willing to put up with all of the sideways glances they will get.

Can anyone see the list of employers to bid? I can see that I'm allowed to bid, but I don't have anything listed underneath. Don't tell me that no firms are going to this thing...

Nevermind, I fixed my issue! Rough turnout - only 11 firms. Anyone submit their bids yet?

piccolittle wrote:Nevermind, I fixed my issue! Rough turnout - only 11 firms. Anyone submit their bids yet?

How did you fix it? My list of employers to bid only shows BSTZ and Knobbe, anyone else have this problem?

My problem was that my profile had me down as a 1L instead of a 2L. Maybe that will fix it? Ugh ugh ugh my cover letters are utter shite. Oh well, I only qualify to apply to like 4 of those firms anyway.

Uh... my writing sample is larger than the maximum allowable file size. What to do?

Thanks but that didnt work. Anyone else know how to fix it?

ENGINEERD wrote:

piccolittle wrote:Nevermind, I fixed my issue! Rough turnout - only 11 firms. Anyone submit their bids yet?

How did you fix it? My list of employers to bid only shows BSTZ and Knobbe, anyone else have this problem?

Mine's the same way - are you a 3L?

Anonymous User wrote:

ENGINEERD wrote:

piccolittle wrote:Nevermind, I fixed my issue! Rough turnout - only 11 firms. Anyone submit their bids yet?

How did you fix it? My list of employers to bid only shows BSTZ and Knobbe, anyone else have this problem?

Mine's the same way - are you a 3L?

Ya im a 3L. Nothing seems to fix it.

No it just means that only 2 firms are interviewing 3Ls

ENGINEERD wrote:Thanks but that didnt work. Anyone else know how to fix it?

change the browser! I changed from Chrome to IE. It worked for me.

Best of luck!

Anyone know when we'll get our interview schedule for this?

From past threads, looks like mid-July. However, I think the timing is a little different this year (the fair is earlier), so things could come out a little sooner than expected.

Anonymous User wrote:Anyone know when we'll get our interview schedule for this?

The following letter says that the employer has to make the selections by 7/2, so hopefully we will have the schedules within a couple of days.

--LinkRemoved--

i posted on the Loyola thread, so might as well post here. Some years ago, I did Loyola. I got 23 pre-selects, 4-5 callbacks, 0 offers. I also did SFIPLA, where I had 8 pre-selects, received 5 callbacks, and 2 offers. I noticed that SFIPLA had less of a meat-market vibe than Loyola. They wanted Cali ties, obviously, but the interviewers seemed really energetic compared to post 2pm Loyola people who were like wtf

Anonymous User wrote:i posted on the Loyola thread, so might as well post here. Some years ago, I did Loyola. I got 23 pre-selects, 4-5 callbacks, 0 offers. I also did SFIPLA, where I had 8 pre-selects, received 5 callbacks, and 2 offers. I noticed that SFIPLA had less of a meat-market vibe than Loyola. They wanted Cali ties, obviously, but the interviewers seemed really energetic compared to post 2pm Loyola people who were like wtf

This is great to hear! I know that SFIPLA has a bit of a weak employer turnout, but I was banking on a smaller student population to give less competition. It's good to know the employers who do show up are serious about hiring. I'm really looking forward to the fair; even if I don't get anything from it, even one screener will be good practice for my school OCI.