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I inadvertently bid on a firm looking for IP Lit candidates with a technical background. I do not have a tech background. Not even remotely. For some reason, I got selected for an interview. Are they fucking with me? Was this an oversight on their part? I should note that the firm is not solely an IP practice, and the office has plenty of attorneys practicing other things. Is it possible they might be interviewing me for a non-IP position (contrary to what the symplicity listing said)?

I assume by IP you mean patent specifically. Not all firms require a tech background for patent lit. You might also be correct that they are looking for more than just patent lit.

bk187 wrote:I assume by IP you mean patent specifically. Not all firms require a tech background for patent lit. You might also be correct that they are looking for more than just patent lit.

The listing was for patent prosecution and patent lit. Both required a hard science background.

Well patent pros does but patent lit technically does not. If the firm is one that essentially requires their patent lit associates to have tech backgrounds then I think you probably hit on the 2 possibilities in the OP (either they messed up or they are hiring for more than patent lit/pros).

What firm?

My firm will sometimes place non-IP interviews in their IP slots. This happened to me in the interview process.

If the screening committee/attorneys already think they have sufficient IP people to interview and they want to increase their number of non-IP interviews for non-IP SA positions, they'll do exactly the above.

Anonymous User wrote:

bk187 wrote:I assume by IP you mean patent specifically. Not all firms require a tech background for patent lit. You might also be correct that they are looking for more than just patent lit.

The listing was for patent prosecution and patent lit. Both required a hard science background.

Nice try.

Only patent prosecution requires hard science.

Anonymous User wrote:

Anonymous User wrote:

bk187 wrote:I assume by IP you mean patent specifically. Not all firms require a tech background for patent lit. You might also be correct that they are looking for more than just patent lit.

The listing was for patent prosecution and patent lit. Both required a hard science background.

Nice try.

Only patent prosecution requires hard science.

(OP here)

Lol... I'm just relaying what the symplicity posting said...

TLS seems to under-emphasize the need for a tech background in IP lit jobs. I didn't have a tech background and I got slaughtered compared to guys with my exact same GPA, even though we all expressed the same kind of interest in IP lit.

Julio_El_Chavo wrote:TLS seems to under-emphasize the need for a tech background in IP lit jobs. I didn't have a tech background and I got slaughtered compared to guys with my exact same GPA, even though we all expressed the same kind of interest in IP lit.

(OP)

From what I've seen, any IP Lit position states that a tech background is either required or strongly preferred.

Anonymous User wrote:

Anonymous User wrote:

bk187 wrote:I assume by IP you mean patent specifically. Not all firms require a tech background for patent lit. You might also be correct that they are looking for more than just patent lit.

The listing was for patent prosecution and patent lit. Both required a hard science background.

Nice try.

Only patent prosecution requires hard science.

Why is that anonymous?

And IP-heavy firms may just require a tech background for everyone.

Only patent pros requires a tech background to be able to do it at all, but firms may nonetheless require or highly prefer their patent lit guys to have tech background regardless. Two different things, and not really sure why people are (or rather, perhaps just one person) splitting hairs over that.

But yeah, could be that they're interviewing you regardless, could be that they assumed you read their posting and selected you without reading your resume in detail, etc. Anything's kind of possible. I know one firm that typically prefers/requires tech background that has hired SAs without it.