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Looking at the IP transactions group of some of the big PE firms like STB, PW, and KE. Are they just deal support?

I didn't work it full time because we didn't have a IP trans group, but all the IP work from the transactional groups that came to my desk were deal support, due diligence.

Does deal support = lifestyle? I work in a deal support group and it feels like we r still subject to the unreasonable whims of the client.

IME, these groups are very critical parts of Tech M&A, and then you will also do a fair amount of client counseling day-to-day (GDPR compliance, privacy, HIPAA, etc.). Yes, you have to ramp up and do diligence/assist with deals at the same time the corporate folks do, but you're only responsible for your IP piece, and reviewing your portions of the schedules as the main document moves over time. I think it's a great group. It's probably one of the hottest groups for exit ops too--there's always 1 million postings (and need for) commercial/licensing counsel at companies, big and small, public and private. If you like technology, have a soft IP background, and don't mind being in an "ancillary" group to corporate, I would certainly consider it.

Depends; the NY office of one of the firms you listed took one first year associate this year. Not necessarily very big; upwards mobility in the firm might be limited.

Can be drudgerous deal support, and working a large mess of different deals at once with long hours. But it might be a good department as the tech industry becomes more prominent and in-vogue.

OP here. Thanks for the posts above. Thinking at this point that NY is the wrong market for this practice. Just from speaking with a few IP transactional associates at NY firms, it seems the groups don't really have their own deals. Just diligence support for the corporate arm...

dabigchina wrote:Does deal support = lifestyle? I work in a deal support group and it feels like we r still subject to the unreasonable whims of the client.

My limited experience has been very low stress. IP is usually a small part of the transaction that has already been vetted by the client internally before the deal work started... I was always given reasonable time to complete requests (well reasonable in relative terms).

Anonymous User wrote:OP here. Thanks for the posts above. Thinking at this point that NY is the wrong market for this practice. Just from speaking with a few IP transactional associates at NY firms, it seems the groups don't really have their own deals. Just diligence support for the corporate arm...

I wouldn't write off NY entirely. IP transactional work is mostly done out of Sil Val and NYC. The only issue is that the kind of work that gets the "IP transactions" tag varies significantly between different firms. There are firms that do only soft IP, there are firms that do both soft and hard IP, there are groups that only do M&A support, there are groups that have their own deals in addition to M&A support, there are groups that blend prosecution work into the mix. It's still kind of an "evolving" area.