Top Law Schools

Does this work? Have a USPTO number.

That's gonna look really weird to most law firms. Why do you want to be a patent agent instead of a patent attorney?

totesTheGoat wrote:That's gonna look really weird to most law firms. Why do you want to be a patent agent instead of a patent attorney?

I would like to be a patent attorney. I just don't think that's going to work out for me and am wondering whether this is a viable alternative.

I think it'll be more fruitful for you spend effort on improving your chances of making it as a patent attorney than on finding patent agent jobs.

Are you primarily running into a GPA issue, a city issue, or a school issue?

look for staff attorney positions (yes, I have seen these for patent pros). do not apply for patent agent jobs with a JD. wtf

firms probably wont want to hire you as a patent agent because they know you will probably just jump ship as soon as you can find an attorney job

I agree with totesthegoat, you should focus on becoming a better patent attorney than applying for a patent jobs, because most of the renowned patent agencies specially the ones right here in Virginia look out for patent attorneys rather than patent agents.

Anonymous User wrote:I agree with totesthegoat, you should focus on becoming a better patent attorney than applying for a patent jobs, because most of the renowned patent agencies specially the ones right here in Virginia look out for patent attorneys rather than patent agents.

nice plug. you have a lot of typos/misspellings on your website. "vienne, va"

Thanks and sorry will be more careful next time!

If I got your resume and was told you wanted to be a Patent Agent, I'd be very confused. If you want to do pros, the skills are largely the same, so if you told me "I don't think it'd work out," I'd hear "I don't want to bill a lot and I think being a Patent Agent will be easier"/"I don't know what I'm doing." I don't know if any of that is actually true, but that's what my first impression would be.

I think you'd need to come up with a reaaaaally good excuse as to why you're basically asking for a demotion out the gate.

While there are times during a year where agents will be less stressed/worked than the attorneys, in my experience it is better to be an attorney because if the pros work dry up, you can easily be given some lit or opinion work to do, whereas the agents have to scratch and claw for assignments to meet their hours.

I also don't even know 'how' a firm hires a person with a JD as a patent agent unless you don't have a bar accreditation. Call yourself whatever you want, in my mind, that person is an associate for the firm.

I am in this situation and have found that the "why aren't you admitted?" question to be a killer so far on my interviews. I actually passed the bar a couple of years ago but ended up letting my application expire when I got laid off in my second year as a law clerk and essentially gave up on everything for a while. But I've decided to get back in the game and intend to reapply and take the Feb 2018 exam. For now, I want a job as an agent and the JD is like a ball around my ankle.

It's strange that I would probably have an easier time finding a Patent Agent job without the JD. Since I can't strike the JD from the resume as it would leave too huge a gap (not to mention that all my previous legal experience consists of titles like "summer associate" and "law clerk"), I am left to explain why I have the degree but not the license. It sucks.