<p>This is what I want to do. I know I have to go to law school but what should I study as an undergrad?</p>
<p>Whatever would serve as a good backup in case you don’t get into a good enough law school, or whatever interests you if you have some reason not to be worried about that. Chemical engineering might help you if you end up involved in patent stuff (although it’s really the masters degree people look for there), but it’s also hard, and you’ll want to get a GPA of 3.5 at least if you plan to go to a decent law school.</p>
<p>Do be aware that the law market is pretty bad right now, and lots of people don’t think it’s going to recover. As it stands now, if you don’t get into a very good law school (like, top 20ish, and some people will even say top 10), and you don’t do pretty well in that law school, you won’t get to choose your practice area. You might get lucky and work at whichever place offers you a job, you might get unlucky, and not get a job at all. Maybe this won’t be true in 7 years, but don’t bet on it.</p>
<p>I was actually going for petroleum engineering. I figured even if like you said law school doesn’t work out I have something to fall back on. Would I really need to study petroleum engineering though for this specific area of law?</p>
<p>What specific area of law? Petroleum and coal companies do all the things that other companies do; corporate law for fossil fuel companies isn’t any different or any more specific than corporate law in general. A relevant engineering major can be useful for patent stuff, but you certainly don’t need to be a petroleum engineer to work contracts or something.</p>
<p>Oh I’m sorry I’m a bit unsure how the whole law thing works. I’m going to be a freshman in college next semester and I’m looking into a few different careers. Law is one that interests me. I just figured that depending on what type of company you want to work for, you’d study different things. So how does it work? Once you’re in law school you choose what type of law you want to study or everyone studies the same thing at first?</p>
<p>Patent law in in the chemical field (including petroleum based products) is extremely active and will remain so for a long time. A Chemical engineering degree would probably be best as you would cover a broader area of technology. The good news is that the law school you attend has little to no influence on getting a good job in the patent field. The top law schools actually train very few patent lawyers as few law school students have the requisite undergraduate science or engineering degrees to practice patent law. Your undergraduate or graduate science degree and industry experience is much more important. Many patent lawyers got their law degrees at night at the state flagship while working day jobs in the industry. Some companies will even cover the tuition. Many IP lawyers also practice contract law, especially technology licensing which is also very hot right now.</p>
<p>If cellardweller is right about the night school thing, I would heavily encourage you to go that route. It sounds like that path gives you decent career opportunities with little risk, and neither of those things are generally true of law school.</p>
<p>The evening route is what I took. It takes 4 instead of 3 years but is very manageable with a day job. A number of my evening classmates were other scientists and engineers employed by local high-tech firms also training to become patent attorneys, which made it very interesting. I now run my own practice and am of Counsel to several larger law firms on patent and other IP issues. IP law is very unique among law specialties with high demand and little competition. There are just not that many patent lawyers and the field has changed dramatically in the past few years with most work done online. A completely new patent regime is also resulting in numerous rule changes being put in place at the beginning of next year. Many established patent attorneys having worked under the old system are actually at a disadvantage as they will need substantial retraining.</p>
<p>I agree with cellardweller when he writes that chemical engineering is a more suitable choice for you than petroleum engineering. I am studying chemical engineering and English, and I’m about to start my 3rd year. I am probably going to law school and entering the field of IP Law. Should I choose to do otherwise, I’ll have opportunities waiting for me in all types of engineering practices, including those in petroleum. This is why I would advise chemical engineering as opposed to petroleum engineering as an undergraduate major for you. </p>
<p>Also, regardless of your ambitions, take plenty of writing classes! :)</p>
<p>Yeah but the thing is if I don’t decide to go into law I want to become a petroleum engineer. Chemical engineers can work for petroleum companies but not in the upstream oil jobs which is what I want to do. Chemical engineering is a lot more broader but its not really what I’m interested in. By the way, how are you studying both English and chemical engineering? I’ve been told engineering is tough enough on its own that its almost impossible to double major.</p>
<p>Pink94:</p>
<p>I am an IP attorney and in the past had worked at a company in this field.</p>
<p>If you want to do patent work in this field, a degree in either petroleum or chemical engineering would be recommended. However, I should warn you that inventiveness in these areas of technology has been rather sparse in recent years. As compared with 20 or 30 years ago, much fewer patent applications are being filed. So if you want to go into patent law I suggest you broaden your field of interest and major in chemical engineering, which has broader uses.</p>
<p>On the other hand, if you only want to work as some type of layer for a coal or petroleum/petrochemicals company as a general lawyer (e.g., contracts or corporate law) , then you don’t need any particular background. However, if you want to work on environmental matters, then again a degree in chemical engineering, while not necessary, would be helpful.</p>
<p>But even petroleum engineering ought to have enough general engineering and chemical engineering to be useful.</p>
<p>The double-major is not difficult. It can be looked at simply: is a semester of chemical engineering classes alone easier or more difficult than a semester of chemical engineering and English classes? I have found this balance of the two disciplines to be easier, especially because I have a tendency towards writing more so than engineering. I also think it just a wise decision in general for me because I am interested in becoming a patent attorney. I don’t think it’s necessary, but I think I enjoy it and that it is wise, and so far I am glad I made the decision.</p>