Patent Attorney -trying to break into an AMTop25 firm, doable? Forum

[integralx2]

I am currently a patent attorney at a boutique firm. After a year of experience, I managed to secure a position at AM200 firm (closer to the 200 then the 100 side).

My goal is to work for a few years and try to later into one of the top 25 AM law firms (or V25). How doable will this be? Ideally I would like to later after 4-5 years experience. I am currently sitting with 1 year of experience.


The law school I graduated from was T3/T4. I worked all my years in law school. I graduated Top 35%. I have a BS and a MS in EE, graduated my undergrad and masters program with a 3.75 GPA.

[Danger Zone]

Why?

[run26.2]

Why?

Exactly. Who cares where your firm is ranked?

[jhett]

Like the others said, you are oddly fixated on rankings, especially if you are doing patent prosecution. I was a patent attorney at a V25 and ultimately left because the billing rates were too high to do the work I needed to do under budget. I had the chance to lateral to other top firms but I didn't because I would just face the same problems.

You should find a firm with a large stable of patent attorneys and patent clients, and one that charges a reasonable billing rate regardless of ranking. I suggest looking at IP boutiques and midlaw. The top AM / V firms are bleeding patent attorneys for the most part because of this billing problem.

[gogu]

Not sure why the above commenters are so negative about your question/objective. There are lots of good reasons to do what you have in mind -- better exit opportunities, better compensation, easier to get top shelf projects/experience (e.g., if you want high profile litigation instead of prosecution), easier to make your hours, etc. My answer to your question is yes, it can be done, although it does not appear to be common (I have made exactly that transition). It would be more doable if you had gone to a top law school, because top firms care about that. Your chances will be higher if you get good litigation experience at your existing firm. Feel free to pm me with more questions; I can also give you info on how I did it.

[eng2law]

Why?

This. Patent prosecution is no fun in biglaw. Most people go in the opposite direction. Do you want to do patent lit?

[Abbie Doobie]

so as you can see, op, it would be helpful to know whether you are interested in pros or lit to clear up some confusion

[ballouttacontrol]

Amlaw 100-200 seems to me about the sweet spot in terms of lifestyle and compensation for patent pros. Great compensation, reasonable hours, much lower COL than NY so u probably come out ahead on $, etc. At mine at least, the bennies are great too which wasn't the case at the v50 I worked at