Patent Law Undergraduate College Rank?

Graduate School Law School
1

<p>Hi!</p>

<p>I was just wondering: when trying to find a job in Patent Law, does the prestige of your undergraduate engineering school have a great deal of weight. There are definitely colleges out there that give great educations away for an affordable price, but would I be penalized in the job market if I went to a lesser school compared to a more renowned engineering school.</p>

<p>This is a list of engineering college rankings found on the Engineering Forum.
<a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/engineering-majors/382751-usnews-2008-engineering-ranking-compilation.html%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/engineering-majors/382751-usnews-2008-engineering-ranking-compilation.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>If I were looking at schools at the bottom of that list, even not on the list at all, just because of affordability and ability to maintain a higher GPA than at a higher college, would employers look down on that, OR do law firm employers mostly care about which law school you attended?</p>

<p>One more question pertaining to Patent law and the job market. Do employers look for advanced degrees as far as engineering? I have been looking around and it looks as if employers want you to have at least a masters in engineering before considering you. That seems a little much considering how much both schools will cost by the end of 7 years. To want a prospective employee to go to school for even longer before considering them seem like much.</p>

<p>Thanks so much for your help!</p>

2

<p>As a headhunter for lawyers, I have found that the law firms hiring patent lawyers often care more about the prestige of the undergraduate college than the law school. They do often include the desire for advanced degrees in the job description.</p>

3

<p>Really? I would have expected the opposite. I would think that law firms would want their attorneys to have knowledge of the patent topic, yet have more knowledge of the law.</p>

4

<ol>
<li><p>The particular law school does count, also. So it should at least be a school with a good local or regional reputation.</p></li>
<li><p>Employers today can be unreasonable from an applicant’s standing in asking for more schooling than may be necessary to do the job well (and that can be costly). That’s because in today’s job market they can find applicants who have those advanced degrees.</p></li>
</ol>