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I'm looking for some advice. I would like to transition to a career in patent law. This is something I've been considering for the past 7 years. I posted this on another web forum, but I didn't get much feedback. My background is as follows:

I have a masters degree in Computer Science. I've been working as a software engineer for the past 7 years.

Do you think my background would be competitive for Technical Specialist/Science Advisor jobs? Thank you for your time.

Your English bachelors will probably keep you out of most top pros shops. Sorry. You might be able to find a job. I dunno. I've never really seen or heard of a resume like yours.

Moved to correct forum.

Anonymous User wrote:Your English bachelors will probably keep you out of most top pros shops. Sorry. You might be able to find a job. I dunno. I've never really seen or heard of a resume like yours.

Thanks for your response. Although I do not have a bachelors in CS, I did have to take all the core courses before I entered a graduate program.

A. Nony Mouse wrote:Moved to correct forum.

I apologize for starting this in the wrong forum.

smc44 wrote:

A. Nony Mouse wrote:Moved to correct forum.

I apologize for starting this in the wrong forum.

No problem. But check the stickies at the top of a forum in future.

The questions I primarily care about when looking at a potential patent agent/tech advisor candidate are: (a) can this person write well, (b) is this person technically astute and versatile (i.e., capable of quickly learning varied new technologies outside his/her comfort zone), and (c) is this person patent bar eligible? More or less in that order of elimination.

Patent bar eligible is the biggest hurdle for those with non-technical UG backgrounds. By solving that problem, you've neutralized a big concern. Quality of technical/legal writing is something prospective employers will want to see through a writing sample--I think the BA in English will suggest you don't have the problem most engineers do, but I would still want to see your writing before I decided.

The biggest concern would be technical aptitude and versatility. By selling the fact that you did most of the UG CS curriculum and have a number of years of practical experience, you can probably neutralize the rest of the knee-jerk skepticism a firm might have by simply looking at your first degree. My lingering concern would be to what extent, as a CS person with a software professional background, you'd be able to deal with hardware-related inventions. But I have that concern with all CS types; it's a function of that particular discipline and not how you got there.

TL;DR: Provided you had strong grades, I'd at least interview you for my prosecution practice, and I think a fair number of firms who regularly employ patent agents probably would also.

mrsmartypants wrote:The questions I primarily care about when looking at a potential patent agent/tech advisor candidate are: (a) can this person write well, (b) is this person technically astute and versatile (i.e., capable of quickly learning varied new technologies outside his/her comfort zone), and (c) is this person patent bar eligible? More or less in that order of elimination.

Patent bar eligible is the biggest hurdle for those with non-technical UG backgrounds. By solving that problem, you've neutralized a big concern. Quality of technical/legal writing is something prospective employers will want to see through a writing sample--I think the BA in English will suggest you don't have the problem most engineers do, but I would still want to see your writing before I decided.

The biggest concern would be technical aptitude and versatility. By selling the fact that you did most of the UG CS curriculum and have a number of years of practical experience, you can probably neutralize the rest of the knee-jerk skepticism a firm might have by simply looking at your first degree. My lingering concern would be to what extent, as a CS person with a software professional background, you'd be able to deal with hardware-related inventions. But I have that concern with all CS types; it's a function of that particular discipline and not how you got there.

TL;DR: Provided you had strong grades, I'd at least interview you for my prosecution practice, and I think a fair number of firms who regularly employ patent agents probably would also.

Thank you for your detailed response.