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Can anyone provide ballpark figures how much a patent attorney (electrical or computer science ) with 1-3 years of experience should command in salary? Please if you can specify firm size and location. I am strictly focusing on the patent prosecution side of things. I just cannot find any information on line with any actual real information about such salaries. I get the feeling it's a secret or something.

Biglaw: Cravath scale + Cravath bonus. You are expected to have biglaw (~2000) billable hours.
Small patent pros shop: 100k-140k, plus bonus. You are expected to have between 1600-1900 billable (matching with salary range), with bonus that should put you in line with big firms if you bill at big firm hours.

edit: knowledge as 3L who interviewed at and received offers from both biglaw and small shops.

Have you tried sites like GlassDoor.com? You can sometimes find self-reported salary info on prosecution firms there.

In the San Francisco Bay Area, single office patent boutiques tend to offer first years $120k-$145k. Some firms offer various percentages of your billed hours when you hit your third year.

As a second year I was offered 175k at a biglaw pros shop. At a small pros shop I was offered a third of my billings at 300/hour to begin. Both in DC.

Check out the AIPLA economic report survey. You can get it with a membership (like $25 or something) and it has tons of data. I recall boutiques paid something around $140 ~ $200K for EE 1-3 years experience, and that pay generally does not differ between pros and lit at lower levels in the pay scale.

This is only slightly more narrow than asking "how much should a 1-3 year attorney make"

Variables include market but are mostly driven by firm. There are small/mid boutiques that will pay market/cravath.

Without knowing about the firm and the market its hard to give a more specific answer. Just like all other flavors of law, there are all flavors of pros firms

ipguy wrote:This is only slightly more narrow than asking "how much should a 1-3 year attorney make"

Except that patent shitlaw doesn't really exist. Basically all patent attorneys working full time are making 6 figures. Lots of 1-3 year attorneys make far less.

Anonymous User wrote:

ipguy wrote:This is only slightly more narrow than asking "how much should a 1-3 year attorney make"

Except that patent shitlaw doesn't really exist. Basically all patent attorneys working full time are making 6 figures. Lots of 1-3 year attorneys make far less.

False. I definitely know some staff attorneys doing IP work who make around 80k. I think some of them are patent attorneys. Granted, they could probably move on to a six figure job fairly soon after gaining some experience as staff attorneys.

Anonymous User wrote:

ipguy wrote:This is only slightly more narrow than asking "how much should a 1-3 year attorney make"

Except that patent shitlaw doesn't really exist. Basically all patent attorneys working full time are making 6 figures. Lots of 1-3 year attorneys make far less.

I am not even sure if this is true for major markets but you are definitely not getting paid 6 figures in secondary markets like St. Louis etc. I know people at Armstrong Teasdale in St. Louis who are started at around 75k for IP. I know of a few small IP boutique firms in Virginia that pay well below six-figures for first year patent pros bros.

I will agree that you are more likely to find a 6 figure starting salary as an IP attorney because of the big IP boutiques like Oblon/Shugrue/Oliff (if you are desperate for job/money) etc that are far less concerned about your law school GPA.

Anonymous User wrote:Can anyone provide ballpark figures how much a patent attorney (electrical or computer science ) with 1-3 years of experience should command in salary? Please if you can specify firm size and location. I am strictly focusing on the patent prosecution side of things. I just cannot find any information on line with any actual real information about such salaries. I get the feeling it's a secret or something.

Depends entirely on firm size. IP in big law will start at 160k. For example, Fitzpatrick Cella starts at 160k and has a 2100 hour minimum. Their DC office is focused on patent prosecution. NY does a mix of prosecution and litigation. I have a few friends doing patent prosecution at smaller firms in the DC/VA area, and they make less, but have better billing minimums.

Anonymous User wrote:

ipguy wrote:This is only slightly more narrow than asking "how much should a 1-3 year attorney make"

Except that patent shitlaw doesn't really exist. Basically all patent attorneys working full time are making 6 figures..

As has been pointed out by others, this is completely false.

Lots of 1-3 year attorneys make far less

Sure, but I'm pretty sure this was not a binary question of "will I make more than X?" and thus, I hardly see how it is relevant. If OP wants to provide more details or specifics he/she will get a better answer.

First year associate at a DC/VA area boutique here. I have a friend who is a second year associate at a different DC/VA firm doing patent work. We both started in the 135-160 range with 1800-2100 billable reqs. Both firms also have generous bonus structures. This is for mostly prosecution work fwiw.