The other day my mom and I were discussing possible career paths and she mentioned the idea that I could do what my dad had initially wanted to do: Be a patent lawyer. Now I have no real idea what that is, so you'll be learning with me! So we start with a definition: a legal expert who specializes in helping clients protect their inventions from unauthorized use by others. The average annual salary is about $133,000, which is always nice. So far I don't think any red flags are popping up; I like helping people and I like money- but who doesn't?
It's looking like "Patent Attorney" is a much more common title, so I'll be researching it by that title from now on.You need to take the LSAT (Law School Admissions Test), and you have to pass your state bar exam to be recognized as an attorney, and you will also need a Bachelor's degree in a technological field to be recognized by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). It says online that a Patent Agent does not, in fact, need a law degree, but they are not as superior as Patent Attorneys. This sounds like a lot of work, but also exciting.
My mom said that my father had wanted to do a double major (law and science) but the work load was too much- and he's not a lazy guy- so he opted out of law and is now a Biochemist. He was recently working towards development in cancer, but found a hair growth medicine instead, which is still pretty neat!
Overall, I'll definitely keep it in mind, but I don't know that this is the right path for me. I really enjoy a lot of concepts of this type of occupation, but to do something this time consuming sounds a little too difficult for me.
That sounds interesting Annette! My parents are lawyers, and they told me that passing the bar is not that bad---it is probably the easiest part of being a lawyer! And you don't need to study major in law to pass the LSAT; it actually has more math and English type stuff. Lawyers do make a lot when they work at a firm, but be careful because I know that when my mom worked at a firm she worked about 80 hours a week. When she came back from maternity leave she worked part time: 40 hours a week. Yeah. :P When you're a lawyer you will have nice options though with working for yourself vs. at a firm and if you work for yourself you have a lot of options, you can work at home, etc. :)
ReplyDeletePatent law always sounded fun to me. You get to argue over cool inventions instead of ancient law codes. If you're actually interested Harvard digitized their copyright law class recently, and it covers basic patent law as well: https://www.edx.org/courses/HarvardX/HLS1x/2013_Spring/about
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