<p>ok, so i'm from uc berkeley and am a mechanical engineering and materials science double major. in my first two years i had a 2.9 gpa. average i would say.</p>
<p>then in my junior year i had a 2.0 in both semesters (my grandfather passed away and that affected me in my fall semester; and i got ill for 2 weeks in my spring semester). There is an addendum placed in my official transcript explaining the circumstances of my grades (I did this through my student advisor).</p>
<p>I am taking an extra semester to graduate, so 4.5 years (i am going to start my senior year and have 3 semesters left).</p>
<p>Question is, I want to get into patent law - so will have to go to lawschool, and want to improve my chances. (I will try to get good grades but straight As in a double major in engineering at berkeley = tough)</p>
<p>How do I improve my chances into getting into a decent lawschool besides getting good grades?</p>
<p>extracurriculars:
- i have tons, and i mean tons of industry experience (started an internship at 15 years old)
- research wise I have done cancer research & transportation research
- am currently working for Lawrence national
^Will they take into account my industry and research experience for lawschool if i state that I want to go into patent law on my personal statement?</p>
<p>Agree with Greybeard. Your undergrad and grad degree will matter more than source of your law degree. Do you have any plans to get an advanced degree in engineering?</p>
<p>^from that it says that to be a patent attorney one needs a…
technical degree (check)
pass the patent bar
pass the state bar</p>
<p>so…this will take me around 4.5 + 3 ~ 8 years, which is a lot of time…so i was thinking of not doing a graduate degree.</p>
<p>reasons for not doing a graduate degree:
major gpa is bad so my admissions will be to ‘okay’ grad schools, so the lawschool i get into after will probably be ranked lower than if i just applied from berkeley straightaway
time
i already have a double major
become an attorney faster
i can only do a grad degree in either ME or MSE, and that focuses me to 1 subject (kind of). I want to keep an equal focus (or make it seem like that on my resume)</p>
<p>reasons for getting a grad degree:
having more knowledge</p>
<p>anything else? (i dont know much about patent law, etc. )</p>
<p>suggestions with what i do with my life? honestly speaking i’m tired of engineering so want to apply to lawschool straightaway. i know getting a grad degree is beneficial, but is it worth the time? (and remember the school i get into will not be a ‘good’ or ‘great’ one)</p>
<p>As a headhunter for attorneys, I tend to work with “biglaw” firms or top boutiques. When I have an opening in patent law to fill, the firms much prefer candidates with advanced degrees. Of course, there are patent attorneys at these firms without advanced degrees. Getting the advanced degree is not necessary but makes you more marketable. I repeat - my expertise is with large firms or boutiques that recruit very similarly to large firms.</p>
<p>I’m currently pursuing a BS in Electrical Engineering, would it be advisable for me to get a MS in EE before going to law school to get a good patent law job?</p>
<p>cartera45, I just had a Q for you. I’m trying to go on the path where I want to get my master’s first (I’m going off to becoming a EE senior this fall) and then work a few years and then head off to law school. Anyways, is it better to pursue my field in a EE Master’s or would it make a difference in terms of what “big law” firms recruit if I head off to a Master’s in a different field instead(lets say BioE, because thats what i’m currently looking at)? </p>
<p>In other words, if I go on to get a BS in EE, Master’s in BioE and then a JD, would I have the same job oppurtunities as someone else with a BS in EE, Master’s in EE and a JD?</p>
<p>It would seem to me that the idea of getting an advanced degree is to specialize more in a particular area - not to get a broader education. As a patent lawyer, you will be working with specialists in a particular field so you want to have the most credibility with them. If you want to get an idea of the degree paths that patent lawyers take, go to [Lawyers</a>, Find a Lawyer, Law Firm & Attorney Directory - martindale.com](<a href=“http://www.martindale.com%5DLawyers”>http://www.martindale.com) and do a search for intellectual property lawyers. You will find those who do intellectual property litigation too. They will very often not have advanced degrees and will have followed the more standard path of other litigators. If you are interested in patent prosecution, look at those lawyers specifically. Again, there will be plenty without advanced degree. My advice is that an advanced degree will help with marketability.</p>
<p>I agree that an advanced degree would make you more marketable, certainly to the bigger law firms but even to smaller ones. At the present time a bachelor’s degree in MechE, EE or materials science is often considered to make one sufficiently able in technology to handle patent applications. However, please note that you all are looking years ahead and there is no way to know whether by the time you have finished both engineering and law schools the situation may be very different. So think ahead about graduate school and keep asking these same questions as you go - the answers could change.</p>