I am an engineer and interested in IP law. Would law school be worth it? Forum

[lawfulgm]

I am an engineer in bay area and making 120k a year. However I do not want to stay in this field forever and would like to switch to other field within 3 years (my age is b/w 24 and 27). As I was always interested in patent attorney path, I am seriously thinking about applying law school next year
I do have a green card but am a foreigner from some other country (you guys may already have noticed that English is not my first language), so will most likely be struggling through 3 years of JD program.
I got my B.S. degree from Top 20 engineering school with 3.95+ GPA (majored in EE) and got my M.S. degree from Top 3 EE school with 3.9/4.0 (Caltech or MIT or Stanford - sorry but i don't want to reveal myself online). Hopefully I can get into T14 schools with some amount of scholarship.

so from my background above, do you guys think going law school would be worth it for me? any of your feedback would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

[xeoh85]

Yes.

With your qualifications and GPA, you should be shooting for HYS. Study long and hard and make sure you clear 170+ on the LSAT.

-X

[ClubberLang]

You're pretty much guaranteed a job with a good prosecution shop if you want it. Rather than shoot for HYS, I think your goal should be get through school as inexpensively as possible. You may be able to get a job as a patent agent and go to school part time while making money and having your tuition paid for.

[kcdc1]

The answer depends on your interests and ambitions. If your English is not as strong as that of native speakers, your career would likely be focused in patent prosecution and counseling (it's more difficult to develop a career in litigation without very strong English writing skills). With your technical background, you will be a very safe bet to land a job paying 160k out of law school. Depending on career progression, your income is likely to stabilize between 200k and 400k, unless you stay at a successful law firm and bring in a lot of business.

Patent prosecution and counseling work is not terribly exciting, but the hours are predictable and workflow tends to be more stable than in other legal specialties. It can be a very good life as long as your expectations are reasonable.

Given your background, I would not worry about attending Harvard, Yale or Stanford as suggested above. I'd focus more on cost than top-end prestige. There is some benefit to attending a T14 school, but you would also be competitive for top-end positions out of, say, George Washington. I'll plug Northwestern's Accelerated JD (AJD) program as a great fit for a person with patent law credentials and interests. You finish your JD in 2 years instead of 3, which translates into a lot more income and faster career development.

[zot1]

I think you should know that even though you could potentially make $160k out of law school, you will be working potentially more hours than you do now. Just something to consider.

[Desert Fox]

[lawfulgm]

Thanks a lot for sharing your opinions! I was a bit unconfident about this plan but am encouraged now after reading through replies on this thread!

[lawfulgm]

You're pretty much guaranteed a job with a good prosecution shop if you want it. Rather than shoot for HYS, I think your goal should be get through school as inexpensively as possible. You may be able to get a job as a patent agent and go to school part time while making money and having your tuition paid for.

I think you'd be stupid to leave your job OP, but if you do this. I work with a guy who went to Stanford with full reimbursement from Finnegan.

Thanks a lot for sharing this information. Do you know any requirements for this kind of opportunity? where should I start off to get this kind of opportunity? should I apply for a patent agent position in IP law firms first, get experience, then apply law school?

[kcdc1]

You could just apply to IP boutiques -- they're constantly looking to hire people with EE backgrounds. I'd send applications even to firms that do not have job postings.

You should also take the patent bar. This is a computer-administered exam that tests knowledge of patent office procedures. Passing the patent bar allows you to prosecute patent applications at the USPTO. Note that you do not have to be an attorney to take the exam, and passing it does not make you an attorney -- a person who passes the patent bar but has not finished law school is called a "patent agent." You can probably land a job in patent law just based on your engineering background, but passing the patent bar would be a significant resume boost.

If you're seriously considering taking the exam, I'd do a little googling to learn about the test and what you need to learn. Prep packages vary pretty widely in cost and hours required. Feel free to PM me if you want more specific information/advice.

[SplitMyPants]

To echo above, consider the patent agent pipeline. I know some places like Fish & Richardson and Ropes & Gray hire patent agents to do their prosecution work and then will pay for their law school after a couple of years. It's basically impossible to get into their prosecution group without going through that pipeline. Obviously, not everyone hires into prosecution this way, but having gone through interviews recently, I can attest to the difficulty of finding a gig at a large firm that will enable prosecution work.

Being a patent agent first also helps solve the catch 22 of IP, which is, once you have a JD all your interviewers want you to do litigation, but they also talk forever about how useful their foundational experience in prosecution is...

If you don't want to wait that long, though, then kill the lsat and go to a top school for free.