Do you need work experience to be a patent attorney?
Saturday, January 12th, 2008 at
5:28 pm
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megzstar22 asked:
I am planning on going to law school to study patent law. I am currently getting my B.S. in Electrical Engineering and working part time in the field of power distribution design. One question that comes to mind is if you need a lot of engineering experience in order to get hired as a patent attorney? Do some patent attorneys get hired having little to no engineering experience?
I am planning on going to law school to study patent law. I am currently getting my B.S. in Electrical Engineering and working part time in the field of power distribution design. One question that comes to mind is if you need a lot of engineering experience in order to get hired as a patent attorney? Do some patent attorneys get hired having little to no engineering experience?
Tagged with: Lot • Patent Attorney • Power Distribution • Work Experience
Filed under: Attorney FAQ
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Best experience to get you into your fields, go take an internship. It shows you exactly what you will be working on, and it will conect you with a company, that after education, you will be known and have an easier time getting jobs with that internship on a resume. Just call up a company your interested in and tell them you are seeking a internship paying or non-paying (brutal to do work for free, but pays off in the end) to help furthur your education on your major in college.
Good Luck. see link below (helps you create resume, and post it along with appling for jobs online.
You do not need to have engineering experience to be hired as a Patent Attorney. You will, however, need to take some courses in law school dealing with patent/copyright laws. In addition, you will not only need to pass the Bar exam for your state, but you will also need to pass a separate patent bar exam.
No, it is not a requirement. In addition to a standard state bar exam, a patent attorney must also pass a patent bar exam administered by the patent and trademark office (PTO). In order to sit for this exam, you have to have taken X number of technical credits. With a BSEE, you qualify to sit for the exam.
Having real world work experience in a technical field is a plus on your resume. It, however, is not a requirement. All of the major patent law firms regularly hire kids right out of school who have no real technical work experience. The most important factors for hiring kids out of law school is generally what law school did they go to (i.e., is it a top ten school or a school with a well respected patent law program), how are their grades, and does their personality fit with the firm.
So it is not a requirement, just a plus on the resume. That said, I would advise anyone interested in going into patent law to first get some real world technical experience before going to law school (e.g., 2-5 years). It will provide you with an understanding of the engineering/business culture that will help you in the field. Law schools also like it, so it will enhance the likelihood of you getting into a top law school.
You can take the patent bar before you go to law school. Go to law school pass the regular bar, and then you are both an attorney and a patent attorney.Once you are an electrical engineer you can work as a technology specialist in a patent firm. Very often these firms will pay for you to go to law school.