<p>First, I want to apologize if this post seems long-winded or unfocused. I’ve just been pondering all of this stuff for a while and figured this was the perfect place to get a good idea of what the IP law field is like.
I am currently entering my senior year of college and finishing up a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Maryland, College Park, which is considered to have one of the best engineering programs in the country (not quite on the level of Georgia Tech or MIT, but very respectable). Throughout these four years I have realized that the engineering field is not really for me and I would not like to spend the rest of my life working in this field, as I am not nearly as passionate about the hard sciences as most of my peers. Law has been something that has always interested me and I’ve always been told that I am an excellent writer, so recently I have becoming increasingly interested in the idea of using the degree I’m about to receive to foray that into a career in IP law. However, despite my fascination and all the research I’ve been doing I still feel relatively ignorant about how to break into the field and what it entails once I’m there. So here are my general questions/concerns:</p>
<p>• My GPA is hovering right around a 3.0. I know admission into Law School is extremely competitive but as I understand it most Law School Applicants usually major in either Political Science or something not nearly as rigorous as Mechanical Engineering. I have been told by a friend of mine who was recently admitted into GW Law school that my major will make me stand-out and very desirable to many law schools. Will Law Schools take this into account when my GPA is not as high as someone who’s lets say a Poly Sci Major? If I can graduate above the 3.0 threshold and score strongly on the LSAT, what are my chances at a Top 20/25 Law School?</p>
<p>• Would there be any benefit to putting off my law school plans and actually working as an engineer for 2-3 years before pursuing admission as opposed to applying straight out of undergrad? Does one scenario give me better chances of being admitted than the other?</p>
<p>• What is the job market like now-a-days for Patent Law? I always hear that Law in general is becoming saturated and that you can’t throw a rock down the street without hitting a lawyer, but have also heard that this does not necessarily apply to IP law because it is such a specialized niche that it is always in demand. </p>
<p>• If I am so lucky to actually make it into the field of IP law, how much will my technical background come into play/will I have to depend on it? I understand that having the degree gives me an advantage over a lawyer who doesn’t have one, but as I said before I don’t enjoy the truly technical/hardcore side of engineering and I was hoping to distance myself from it and rather put my reasoning and writing skills to use. Will my success in this field be largely dependent on my technical base or can I thrive with the education and skills I will receive in Law school?</p>
<p>• Lastly, what is life like as an IP lawyer? What is a typical day like for one? What kind of person/personality traits do you feel would truly enjoy this field? What are the most common skills needed to succeed? I know this isn’t a focused question I’m just asking for more of a general overview of what I may be getting myself into.</p>
<p>Again guys sorry for the rambling or if I’ve asked anything that’s been answered already. Any of your comments/experiences would be greatly appreciated!!</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Law schools won’t care about your major. Your friend is entirely incorrect. A strong LSAT score will be necessary for you to get into a school worth going to. You can play with your numbers [url=<a href=“http://www.lawschoolpredictor.com/wp-content/uploads/Law-School-Predictor-Full-Time-Programs.htm]here[/url”>http://www.lawschoolpredictor.com/wp-content/uploads/Law-School-Predictor-Full-Time-Programs.htm]here[/url</a>], but my guess is you’d need a score around 172 or better to get into a decent school. That said, employers are more willing to reach down for IP bar eligible students. They generally prefer EE/CS majors though so I don’t know if their hiring preference will be as strong. If you have the time, now is a great opportunity to pad your GPA with some fluff classes.</p></li>
<li><p>The advantage of work experience is that it makes you more attractive to employers, including legal employers. I would absolutely recommend work experience. It has little to do with admissions though, with the noted exception of Northwestern. NWU strongly prefers students with at least a year and usually two of work experience.</p></li>
<li><p>Law is saturated at some levels more than others. IP is fairly in demand, but more for EE/CS than for anyone eligible to sit the patent bar. I expect you’ll still see some hiring preference, just not as much as the truly desired undergrad majors.</p></li>
<li><p>If you do patent prosecution, my understanding is you need a lot of technical knowledge. Others can answer this better as I have absolutely no experience with it. Patent litigation requires becoming familiar with things and can also involve technical knowledge. The further you get away from IP work the less technical knowledge you’ll need, but the less of a hiring boost you’ll get.</p></li>
<li><p>Do you actually have any experience with law, or does it just sound like fun to someone who wants to do a lot o writing? Sudden career shifts concern me, since they’re usually predicated on what people imagine the new career to be rather than what it is.</p></li>
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<p>There are websites that you can use to figure out your odds of acceptance of admission with a given GPA and LSAT score, Law School Predictor, and Law School Numbers.</p>
<p>Working as an engineer for a few years before applying to law school won’t have much of an impact on admissions, but could improve your ability to find a patent law job when you finish law school. Throughout my career as an engineer and engineering manager, I’ve had a lot of interaction with patent lawyers. Pretty much all of the patent lawyers that I know worked as engineer for at least a little while before going to law school. (Many of them went to law school part-time while working as an engineer.)</p>
<p>If you want to get a taste of patent law, I can suggest a book that was recommended to me by a patent lawyer, which was quite accessible for a non-lawyer engineer, “Invention Analysis and Claiming, A Patent Lawyer’s Guide” by Ronald Slusky. I found it to be helpful for training engineers to write patent disclosures for their inventions, by having a better understanding of what the patent lawyers would do to convert the patent disclosure into a patent application. </p>