Legal firms that are specializing in intellectual property areas have attorneys on staff with diverse educations that involve many areas of technology in addition to their law degrees. There are also advisors and paid consultants that are kept on staff who can offer their experience and skills to the legal staff. Many of these advisors have advanced degrees in many of the most scientifically technical careers and are well equipped to give some valuable advice as contributing members of the legal team.
These consultants work with the attorneys as collaborators to help devise ideas and methods that can guide them through the determination for outlining the best ways to protect the ideas, thoughts, and other creative processes of the firms’ clients. With technology developing at such lightning-fast rates, it would be impossible for a single attorney to know all of the changes without having a valuable team to call upon for support.
Today, leading intellectual property firms look for the top-rated attorneys to add to their in-house staff. They look for attorneys who have an educational background and experience that deals with science, technology, software, patents, or trademarks. The firm will often have a broad base of clients who may have intellectual property concerns that deal with electronics, logos, engineering plans, banking, software and computer processes, or technical writing and designs.
Many of the intellectual property legal positions that are open will require that a serious applicant have four or more years of significant experience in this particular field. If you have some hands-on experience in patent counseling, prosecution, or litigation this will boost your chances of being considered for many of the open jobs that are presently available. A number of associates who may not have been lead attorney, but can show the necessary experience, can apply with other firms who may have need of their particular expertise.
There are openings in intellectual property law firms for experienced attorneys who are interested in getting in on the ground floor of a business and many of these can be found at IntellectualPropertyCrossing.com. This is a major online job posting board that deals with attorney positions in this exciting and challenging field. Browsing this job site will enable lawyers to identify those firms that are presently hiring for these openings.
While an undergraduate degree in any field will be considered when coupled with a law degree, these law firms are more interested in applicants who can show them a degree in a science or engineering discipline. Many of the leading candidates for intellectual property positions will have a bachelor’s or a master’s degree in engineering, chemistry, pharmacy, or computer science.
There are seminars and courses that can be taken to assist attorneys and others in learning about patent and trademark law. Anyone who is interested in entering the intellectual property field of legal work should take as many of these courses as possible. To be considered for an intellectual property position, there is a patent bar exam that provides excellent credentials for those that can pass the test. This is one of the first steps that candidates should consider applying for, and the earlier in the career process the better. Some attorneys who are new graduates immediately apply for work at a patent office, but these positions can be scarce and competition is high.
This patent bar exam allows successful candidates to become qualified as patent agents, which is very helpful to anyone looking to position themselves at the forefront of this technologically challenging legal field. The patent bar exam is a six-hour exam and has one hundred multiple-choice questions. A candidate must have a score of 70 percent or better in order to pass. The national rate of success on this test is only about 50 percent, and it is considered by many to be the toughest of any national exam that is now given.
It is crucial that any candidate for a position in this area understands the steps in obtaining and holding patents in a wide variety of different areas. Attorneys must be able to guide clients in understanding if their ideas are unique enough to qualify for a patent, and this can be a relatively long process involving weeks or months of research and study. If an attorney also has some experience and personal expertise in the area of the client’s work it will serve them well; if they do not have this experience they will have to rely upon consultants and advisors to help them through this potential legal and technical minefield.
Attorneys who become involved in intellectual property law need to be team players who are capable of being active contributors to the planning and strategizing process. They will be instrumental in implementing ways to develop and protect many project ideas and applications, and they must be fully prepared to take legal action and prosecute anyone who infringes upon the rights of their clients. There will be a great deal of work involved that involves research and patent searches. These must be conducted on global scales and the work will be ongoing and will not end with the awarding of patents or trademarks.
Attorneys must be diligent in keeping their clients’ property secure at all times. Legal firms that want to hire the finest candidates look for legal scholars that have proven track records, but they also want people who are highly motivated self-starters. Many new law graduates will take courses that are available to familiarize them with many aspects of property and patent law on their own time.
New graduates will also search for any opening that might be available with top firms, even if the position is for a research assistant. This can provide a way of becoming associated with the intellectual property firm and will give qualified individuals a chance to refine their legal skills while gaining invaluable exposure and experience in this field. There are many different positions and openings advertised at IntellectualPropertyCrossing.com that can lead you to the firm and intellectual property or patent office job that suits you best.
- See Top 10 Reasons Most Law Firms Have No Idea How to Hire and Evaluate Patent Attorneys for more information.
