Working as a patent agent during 1L? Forum

[Anonymous User]

I'm sure this is a common dilemma. Essentially, I have a great job as a patent agent for a small IP firm. I am starting 1L soon, and I need to decide whether to keep working. I could cut back on hours and work part time while doing school full time. This would offer money and experience. On the other hand, I might die from burnout, and I am a little worried about the impact on my grades. If it's relevant, I'll be attending a T14, and the partners at my firm are chill and have a history of employing student associates.

If you kept your job as a patent agent for 1L, I'd love to hear your thoughts.

[bdubs]

Don't work during 1L. The importance of the results is so important that it's just not worth the risk. It will be way better to look back with good grades and lament that you could have also had few extra thousand than it would be to lament bad grades because of a few thousand dollars when you've already committed a lot more to law school tuition.

Try to stay in touch and ask in the Spring about the possibility of a 1L summer position doing legal work.

ETA: If you only care about working as a patent prosecutor in the future, grades may matter less and experience/connections may matter more. If you want to do patent lit in biglaw or if you might *gasp* want to do non-patent work at some point, you may want to focus on getting good 1L grades.

[SemperLegal]

I'm sure this is a common dilemma. Essentially, I have a great job as a patent agent for a small IP firm. I am starting 1L soon, and I need to decide whether to keep working. I could cut back on hours and work part time while doing school full time. This would offer money and experience. On the other hand, I might die from burnout, and I am a little worried about the impact on my grades. If it's relevant, I'll be attending a T14, and the partners at my firm are chill and have a history of employing student associates.

If you kept your job as a patent agent for 1L, I'd love to hear your thoughts.

Try to have an explicit conversation with partners. They should have an idea what 1L is like. I would confirm the following:

1. Will they hire you as a SA if you continue? Is there a grade floor?
2. Will they give you two-three weeks off during finals week?
3. Can you take a some time off and reassess in the Spring?
4. Will they be willing to adjust your workload depending on how busy you are?
5. DO they want you to keep working there, or would they rather you leave, do some different IP stuff, and come back?

[Dr. Mantis Toboggan]

I worked as a patent agent through law school. It's not as bad as it sounds. Sure, those months billing 200+ during school sucked, but it's not always like that. You'll find that many of the partners in your patent group went through the same thing and thus will understand your situation and allow you to be flexible with your schedule. Follow SemperLegal's advice and just ask them questions about it and figure out if they will lower your billing requirement, allow for time off around exams, etc. Also, big question for them, figure out how many years they will be willing to give you toward your seniority when you become an associate. Some firms max out at starting your as a second year but some firms are more generous. Good to find these things out early.

I know a few people who did patent agent + PT LS and had kids during school on top of that. You'll survive. There are quite a few people at your T14 that are currently doing the Patent agent/student associate thing currently, so you won't be alone in this. Get to know your classmates and you'll quickly become of the "patent professional" support group.

Also, don't listen to the people that parrot the 1L grades are the most important mantra. That's only for people who need to find a job at OCI or don't have legal work experience. You don't have to worry about either - you already have job and will be graduating with a number of years experience as a patent agent. You just need to meet the minimum grade cutoff for your T14 if you plan on moving to another firm (which for patent firms that look at your T14 should be pretty generous).

One question, are the student associates at your firm the kind that have their law school tuition paid for by the firm? If not, there are plenty of IP and general practice firms in your area that do so.

Bottom line: Be a man and stick it out. You'll be glad you did.

[Anonymous User]

Thanks for the responses. I am inclined to think that I'll be able to get a good job even if my 1L grades are less than superb due to my skills and experience. My concerns are more about not being miserable (which has been well-addressed and I think I could handle it) and having grades good enough to open doors down the road (e.g. going in-house, academia). I'll have to think it over more, but your insights have been quite helpful.

If anyone else is willing to share their stories of working as a patent agent during law school (especially 1L), I would like to hear them.

[sometimesIwonder]

I'm sure this is a common dilemma. Essentially, I have a great job as a patent agent for a small IP firm. I am starting 1L soon, and I need to decide whether to keep working. I could cut back on hours and work part time while doing school full time. This would offer money and experience. On the other hand, I might die from burnout, and I am a little worried about the impact on my grades. If it's relevant, I'll be attending a T14, and the partners at my firm are chill and have a history of employing student associates.

If you kept your job as a patent agent for 1L, I'd love to hear your thoughts.

Why would you want to work at a small IP firm if you're at a T14 school. Have higher ambitions for yourself.

[Lwoods]

You might want to look into whether your school will actually let you work as a 1L. My home school only allows it under certain rare circumstances and caps the number of hours you can work at 10/week.

I didn't work as a patent agent but did work spring of my 1L year. I actually focus better when I have more on my plate, so my grades improved when I was working. However, it is risky since 1L grades are important--maybe not as important for you since you have a potential job lined up and an IP background, but still important in order to give yourself options should you change your mind about what you want to do.