<p>So, I I've been told that it's reasonable to expect 160K starting salary for IP and patent law graduates. I'm just wondering, how hard is it to get one of those jobs? How hard is it to get into a law school which will set you up for one of those jobs?</p>
<p>how hard is relative. if you have high GPA and are a good test taker, it’s easy. if you have low GPA and are a bad test taker (even if you are smart), it’s VERY difficult.</p>
<p>i think average starting income in private law sector is 160k for Top 14 law school is 160k.
So just do the math, do at least average in top 14 law school or top 10% at a regional law school</p>
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<p>That’s definitely not the mean. Median? Possibly. Depends on the T14.</p>
<p>Are the salaries for IP and patent law not higher than those for other fields?</p>
<p>This isn’t really a real consideration, but I’ve seen it mentioned a few times so I thought I’d ask about it. </p>
<p>As of right now, I’m about 80th percentile GPA-wise at a Top-10 engineering school (this same school happens to have a T14 law school too), and I’m not expecting that to change drastically. Does that sound like I’d be on track for this being a reasonable goal? By which I mean, am I on track for getting into a T14 school? Again this isn’t something I’m really serious about doing, but I thought I’d ask about it as a potential option for a few years out.</p>
<p>Also, I checked the tuition table for my school (which is an public school, and I’m instate) and it’s still like 21K/semester. Are they all that expensive?</p>
<p>flowerhead// Oops, yea, I meant median. I can’t believe I still get mixed up with the two.
Anyways, (from [Top</a> Law Schools](<a href=“http://www.top-law-schools.com%5DTop”>http://www.top-law-schools.com)) some of the T14
Cornell: Median Private Sector salary: $145,000
Northwestern: $160,000
Upenn: $160,000
Columbia: $160,000 (Class of 2008)
New York University: $160,000 (Class of 2008)</p>
<p>I think corporate law garners most salary unless I’m mistaken. I don’t think you should worry about IP or patent law that much, just maintain your gpa at your school, and get as LSAT score as possible, and the doors will open for you.</p>
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For the publics in T14, yes. If you are in Texas (top 15), the in-state tuition is low for a top school.</p>
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<p>It depends on how you define corporate. To be sure, any big firm that tries to match the market of a major market will pay $160,000 to a starting associate, regardless of whether he or she is doing corporate, litigation, intellectual property, trusts and estates, etc. There is no real sense in saying that “corporate attorneys” make more. </p>
<p>I think this is all just semantic. I’m focusing on litigation at my big firm, but since I’m working at a big firm, some of my friends at much lower ranked schools tell me I’m working “corporate.” I think the layperson’s notion of “corporate attorney” is that of an attorney working for a big firm that represents large corporations in various matters, including deal work and litigation.</p>
<p>Thus if you’re doing intellectual property for a big law firm, you are probably a corporate lawyer in the colloquial sense.</p>
<p>patent law has traditionally been less competitive than other fields, since you need to have an engineering degree to be a viable candidate. </p>
<p>if you look at a firm’s website, you will often see a greater concentration of “lesser” schools in the Intellectual Property department.</p>
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<p>How true is this? I thought this too, but I’ve since been permitted (and encouraged) to do hard IP work at the firm, despite not having any technical degrees (though I do have a background in the relevant field).</p>