I want to be a patent attorney. What should I do?
There are a number of steps to become a patent attorney beginning in undergrad and continuing through a few years after law school. In general, when attorneys speak of "patent attorneys" we mean "patent prosecutors" who work with the USPTO to obtain patents and "patent litigators" who seek to enforce patents after issuance or to defend others against allegations of infringement. Under federal regulation a "Registered Patent Attorney" refers to a patent prosecutor. My general recommendation is to pursue the same general couse of training whether you want to go one direction or the other.
In undergrad, obtain an ABET-accreditted engineering degree
In college, I recommend that aspiring patent attorneys obtain an Accreditation Board of Engineering and Technology (ABET) accreditted engineering degree. An engineering degree is rigourous and, depending on the college, may require more than four years of study, co-operative learning, research, and so on depending on the program. Sometimes, that results in a dual bachelors and masters degree. That is fine as well. In general, employers tend to look for Electrical Engineering, Chemical Engineering, and Mechanical Engineering graduates in that order.
These paths tend to overlap a bit. If you have some electives, I would recommend a "core four" computer science sequence (intro, algorithms, processors, and discrete math), a class in reactors for chemical engineering, either physical chemistry or thermodynamics, and a class in semiconductors, VLSI or something similar in either physics or electrical engineering. Industry experience through a co-op or internship is better than none. In general, that is a good all-around technical background that will cover most of what you are going to encounter in practice.
Some positions require doctor level training in biology or chemistry. My general thought is that breadth is better than depth. In your first two years, most programs move you from lab to lab while taking courses and getting small amounts of research done. That is the most important time. Get as much expierence in as many sub-fields as possible. You usually only need to be able to understand the material well enough to teach it to undergrads. If someone needs an application in immunology, for instance, you don't need a three year fellowship to land the client, just be able to teach a 300-400 level course in the field.
In law school, grades are more important than courses
Contrary to my advice in undergraduate or graduate school, law school is a different beast altogether. Employers care a lot about the courses I took in undergrad, but less so the grades I received. Employers care a lot about my GPA and class rank in law school but I don't think anyone ever asked about the courses I took. The first filter in law school is to take the courses where you feel you will get the highest grades. All things being equal here are my thoughts on specific subject matter.
- Take graduate courses outside of the law school. Some law schools give you the option to get credit for taking engineering or science courses. Take something that you wanted to take in undergrad but you didn't have the chance to take for whatever reason. You can learn something in a new field to help you land a position requiring specialized knowledge.
- Consider a class on employment law or ideally federal employee law. In early career, you usually cut your teeth in the Federal Circuit Bar Association taking first chair in MSPB cases. If you don't have place in your schedule and you want to take a CLE instead that's fine too.
- Pursue a clinical course where you work with people of limited means. Every other profession does this (doctors, psychologists, clergy, etc.) there is a lot to gain. Stay busy take a lot of cases, get a good grade.
- Obtain a state court judicial internship and a federal court judicial internship. There is so much in law school that makes no sense until you work with a judge who can explain it to you.
- Patent law. Not high on my list, I think passing the registration exam is better, but you could do worse.
Diversity is more important in early career than volume
There is a saying in the merchant marine, "Do you have thirty years of experience, or do you have one year of experience thirty times?" Being a patent attorney is extremely complex, you will not reach journey level in less than three years. Since you have time, here is what I would recommend you do:
- Get practice writing applications in different technical areas or at least with different kinds of claims: Process loop claims are different than Swiss claims, get familiar with them both.
- If you need mentors, join the National Association of Patent Practitioners (NAPP) and ask for one. That person can help you with your claim drafting.
- Join the Federal Circuit Bar Association and take an MSPB case gratis every year. Practice litigating first chair. If you can get experience handling a case at the Federal Circuit - all the better.
- Write one technical article that gets published. Remember that technical class you took in law school - see if that professor needs a third or fourth author.
- Get a law review article published that does a statistical analysis of some aspect of patent law.
After this point, returns diminish quite a bit. You can pursue these activities to your hearts content, but you will learn less than having done this the first few times. Head count starts to matter a lot more at this point. How many original non-provisional patent applications have you been able to shepard to registration? How do your large are your wins for your plaintiffs? How many cases have you disposed at summary judgment or earlier on defense?
Now you have experienced the wonders of being a patent attorney and you can pick a specialization or be a generalist. That decision is the topic of another article.