Take the Patent Bar before Law School? Forum

[cahwc12]

I have several questions about this and would love some quality advice from those in the know. I hold a social science bachelor's and do not currently qualify for the patent bar. However, I can qualify by enrolling for the Spring semester at my local state university relatively cheaply. I would need to take only three science classes. Here are my questions:

(1) How much of an advantage is it going into OCI/etc to be patent bar eligible and is it conditional on having a science undergraduate or graduate degree?

(2) How much of a leg up is passing the patent bar before law school, if at all?

(3) How would my position compare to the following groups for hiring purposes?
(a) Graduate degree and/or IP WE
(b) Undergraduate degree and passed the patent bar
(c) Undergraduate degree and did not take the patent bar before law school
(d) Anyone not qualifying for the patent bar and with no relevant WE


If I'm asking the wrong questions, please explain. I need to make this decision to enroll by in November.

[sky7]

EE/CS, or life sciences?

The patent bar is never a bad thing to have, but it's a PITA. Those with EE/CS can get by with less credentials than the life sciences.

[rinkrat19]

Have you looked at the patent bar materials yet? I had the brilliant idea of trying to take it before school, since my job was not exactly stressful. The material is basically "memorize hundreds of pages of legal minutiae." Tiny little fussy rules and procedure, not broad concepts. It's not pretty. I decided to wait until my 1L summer, after I'd had 9 months of reading legal crap (hopefully that will work out).

[cahwc12]

I have about 80% of a bachelor's in Physics, and would need 3 courses to qualify for it in Physics (not a bachelor's, but enough credit hours). If I took the 40 science classes route, I'd have to CLEP chem 2 and bio 1,2, and then take 3 chemistry/bio/physics classes. It would be an amalgamation of chemistry/physics and one or two upper level bio classes, not any CS or EE classes.

[Agent]

I have several questions about this and would love some quality advice from those in the know. I hold a social science bachelor's and do not currently qualify for the patent bar. However, I can qualify by enrolling for the Spring semester at my local state university relatively cheaply. I would need to take only three science classes. Here are my questions:

(1) How much of an advantage is it going into OCI/etc to be patent bar eligible and is it conditional on having a science undergraduate or graduate degree?

(2) How much of a leg up is passing the patent bar before law school, if at all?

(3) How would my position compare to the following groups for hiring purposes?
(a) Graduate degree and/or IP WE
(b) Undergraduate degree and passed the patent bar
(c) Undergraduate degree and did not take the patent bar before law school
(d) Anyone not qualifying for the patent bar and with no relevant WE


If I'm asking the wrong questions, please explain. I need to make this decision to enroll by in November.

1. It helps to be eligible, but your technical background is much more important.
2. Helpful on the job hunt, but not a huge deal. Will not affect law school admission.
3. Not sure what you're asking and not 100% clear on your credentials. Again, not having a science/engineering degree will hurt you a lot. Even if you're eligible to sit for the exam, you'll probably be competing with the top-of-the-law-class-but-no-tech-background crowd. Do not bet on that kind of law school success.

HTH.

[BryanD-Bfusion]

Hey all,

So, I'm a PhD (who passed the patent bar) looking at this from an "outsiders" perspective. The IP field is only growing more and more, and while passing the patent bar before law school might not help you get in, taking it then (or early on in your schooling) will only help you down the road as 1) it'll open doors for internships/employment through law school and 2) you'll not have to worry about that exam in the midst of all your other studies.

If it helps, when I went through the process of studying, I used a LOT of free material online. Most of the resources are scattered, disorganized, and you have to spend a lot of time plowing through it all to make sense of it all. (although, seeing that I had 5 months of unemployment, i had a LOT of time to do this)

What I started to do was tutor and help others as I was studying, which led me to organize all the material, summarize, make notes, etc. All those resources are now online:

SPAM

Basically, there is a ton of free material to help people. And if you need more help, there is a paid portion (I had to try and recoup some costs for the website somehow!) to have access to exam databases, question databases, frequency charts of when questions appeared on exams, personalized study monitoring and feedback, summaries, etc. Basically, everything that I (and a LOT of others who were taking the exam at the same time I was) wanted in a website to study. a lot of the feedback and reviews of my materials ended up being posted over at mypatentbar.com

Hope it helps you guys out....and, please feel free to shoot me an email if I can be of any help, or as you are looking for jobs, employment, reach out!

[LaBarrister]

OP,

Just by the tone of your initial post, I get the sense you are rushing into things a little too quickly. These questions should be considered long before you jump into law school. Why enroll in November? Give yourself some more time to get ready for the investment that is law school. Take and pass the patent bar—it's much easier said than done.