KJD's with BS in Mechanical Engineering, how did you fare in terms of job prospects? Forum

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jackedimuschadimus

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KJD's with BS in Mechanical Engineering, how did you fare in terms of job prospects?

Post by jackedimuschadimus » Tue May 26, 2020 9:36 pm

Wondering as I'm a rising senior in UG applying next cycle. Stats are 3.7 GPA in ME from UC Berkeley and 164 lsat, goals of patent prosecution in biglaw or high paying IP boutiques like Knobbe, Fish, and Finnegan in Southern California... is this realistic for a goal? If so, what school tier should I be shooting for and what grades will I need to get in 1L? I've heard that ME's are not too desirable in IP but I've also heard otherwise.

Any tips/insight would be appreciated.

Sackboy

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Re: KJD's with BS in Mechanical Engineering, how did you fare in terms of job prospects?

Post by Sackboy » Tue May 26, 2020 11:57 pm

The only insight I can give you is retake the LSAT, because you want to attend a T13 school on a nice scholarship. You got a 3.7 at Berkeley in engineering, and it's a learnable test. You can do better. Aim for a 170+.

Once you're at a T13 school, it becomes considerably easier to land the gigs you want.

dvlthndr

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Re: KJD's with BS in Mechanical Engineering, how did you fare in terms of job prospects?

Post by dvlthndr » Wed May 27, 2020 12:35 am

jackedimuschadimus wrote:
Tue May 26, 2020 9:36 pm
Wondering as I'm a rising senior in UG applying next cycle. Stats are 3.7 GPA in ME from UC Berkeley and 164 lsat, goals of patent prosecution in biglaw or high paying IP boutiques like Knobbe, Fish, and Finnegan in Southern California... is this realistic for a goal? If so, what school tier should I be shooting for and what grades will I need to get in 1L? I've heard that ME's are not too desirable in IP but I've also heard otherwise.

Any tips/insight would be appreciated.

If your goal is patent prosecution, the right approach is getting an entry-level job as a patent agent / technical specialist with a firm that will *pay* for your school. It dodges the whole debt issue, guarantees you a job, and means you will have ~4-5 years of experience and client relations behind you when you graduate.

Getting to your question, prosecution groups usually aren't picky about where you went to law school (in part, this is because many of the partners/clients worked as patent agents and attended part-time programs at regional law schools). The flip-side is that some high-end prosecution groups will be picky about where your undergrad is from, what your major is, and whether you have a graduate degree.

Firms will occasionally hire undergrad mechanical engineers for prosecution, but you have to be at the right place at the right time. The market is dominated by people doing electrical/computer/software engineering or people with Ph.D.'s doing "life science" patents. Going to a fancy law school doesn't really change the calculus (i.e., going to a T14 school doesn't suddenly bless you with the requisite working knowledge of circuit design, telecommunications, organic chemistry, biosimilars, etc.).

Going to a good school will get you some extra job offers, but they probably won't be in prosecution groups. I'm sure that Knobbe, Fish, and Finnegan would be happy to snap you up if you went to Stanford law, but chances are they would stick you in their patent transaction/litigation groups.

jackedimuschadimus

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Re: KJD's with BS in Mechanical Engineering, how did you fare in terms of job prospects?

Post by jackedimuschadimus » Wed May 27, 2020 12:38 pm

I was thinking of going the agent route, but I feel like it'd be a waste of time since i'm very bullish on prosecution as a career, and I'd much rather get into practicing asap. I was going to apply to T20 and regional powerhouse schools like UCI and if my cycle doesn't pan out the way I want I'll for sure go the agent route, but I feel like I'm in a real sticky situation since as you said, firms, much less high-paying ones, don't need undergrad ME's for prosecution, so how do I get hired as an agent? I've looked at the examiner route as well and not banking on that either since there are so few spots at the USPTO.

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