Knobbe Martens (patent pros) Forum

[Anonymous User]

Hi all, I'm interested in making a lateral move to Knobbe at some point due to geography. Currently at a V50 native to SV, have a few years of experience as a patent agent and now a second year at said V50. Family is in OC so I have ties to the area if that makes any difference.

Does anyone have any insights into Knobbe's patent pros practice, such as culture, billed hour requirements (as opposed to billable), and general impressions on QoL? Any advice would be appreciated, not looking to move urgently but thought I'd try to get a better sense of the firm before shooting my shot - thanks!

[Anonymous User]

Hi, I am a Summer, so I have the rose-tinted glasses on. That said, Knobbe seems great for patent pros. Almost every prosecutor seems fairly chilled and all of them stress that quality of life is pretty good given the spaced out, lax deadlines inherent to patent pros. Seems like there is a lot of diverse work so you can work on a bunch of different techs at a time if you're interested in that.

There seems to be pretty good career progression for prosecutors here. Typically, you start doing more substantive searching, drafting, responding, then move to prosecution management, then, as partner, IP transactional work/portfolios. You can spend your whole career on the non-litigation side, essentially.

Knobbe requires you to bill 7 hours per day, 5 days a week, for 50 weeks. However, most people work more than that for various reasons (e.g. the focus on efficiency/billed vs billable in patent pros, looking to build reputation and career, compensation). Seems like people work hard but not in a toxic way.

The prosecutors seem to be a little more friendly, athletic, and social than your stereotypical patent prosecutor (probably a function of location).

Other benefits seem to be, you will probably make partner more quickly than at a v50, which means, even though it's not Cravath-scale, the average associate will probably make more at Knobbe eventually than the average one at a v50; the partnership structure and work-distribution policies favor QOL and collaboration; they seem to be more chill regarding adapting requirements to life circumstances, etc.

Additionally, there seems to be a big emphasis on diversity, if that is important to you. The firm is also very well-respected in the SoCal tech/legal community, and seems to be doing well/growing despite COVID. The quality of work-product here seems like it's really good compared with what I have seen in the past.

[trmckenz]

I worked as a patent agent for four years before law school and have interviewed with a bunch of firms over the past decade (wow am I old?). One of the alums from my 1L law school was a Knobbe patent associate in SoCal and he visited my law school while I was there a few years ago. We spoke for maybe 20 minutes about his experience at Knobbe. It was wholly positive.

So I don't think you'll hear anything bad about its culture. My understanding is that Knobbe has a lower billable requirement and therefore pays less than "market" firms. Perhaps unlikely in patent prosecution and more particularly at Knobbe, but you could still end up billing the same 1950-2000 hours as everyone else in biglaw, yet make less money than folks at those other firms. It's up to you whether the tradeoff / risk is worth it.

In terms of work quality, Knobbe is a fine firm. I'm not sure whether it's in the same top tier as Fish / Finnegan / certain biglaw shops for patent prosecution work, but it's close enough.

If you're self-selecting into high QOL, which it sounds like you are, it'll be one of the best balanced firms around, especially in SoCal. That said, it definitely wasn't a fit for me, since I was looking for a more intense practice (I now do transactional work). Sometimes I really miss the long deadlines in patent prosecution though; don't take those for granted.

Hope this helps and good luck!

[Anonymous User]

The reviews on Glassdoor are accurate.

[Anonymous User]

Other benefits seem to be, you will probably make partner more quickly than at a v50, which means, even though it's not Cravath-scale, the average associate will probably make more at Knobbe eventually than the average one at a v50

LOL you must have been talking to the senior associate in OC who has been handing out this kool-aid. His spreadsheets make bad assumptions.

[Anonymous User]

Other benefits seem to be, you will probably make partner more quickly than at a v50, which means, even though it's not Cravath-scale, the average associate will probably make more at Knobbe eventually than the average one at a v50

LOL you must have been talking to the senior associate in OC who has been handing out this kool-aid. His spreadsheets make bad assumptions.

Can you explain this further?