If you don't make partner, what will you do?

[OCLM_45]

?

[whokebe]

Lol.

[Wiscagent]

Work for a living?

[klaviernista]

Start your own shop?
Jump for joy?
Call the recruiter for the Somali pirates?

Seriously, you can do almost anything if you don't make partner. Except be a partner in the firm in question, of course. 

To me, the answer to the converse of your question is more interesting.  Though I suspect that I already know the answer to that one.

[stuffball]

Become a very bitter highschool science teacher.  On second thought, there's really no other kind.

[vl2104]

Asking the original question in a different way:
Is it likely that one can work indefinitely as a senior associate at various firms or a senior IP attorney in-house?

At every semiconductor company I've worked at as an engineer, you could hardly find any senior engineers (individual contributors) with gray/white hair.  Almost all have been forced out with lay-offs and early retirement packages.  The rare ones who do stick around are typically the geniuses who are the keepers of the core technology.  Senior engineers just become too expensive after a while and don't have much to offer over the younger folks with 5-10 years experience since the technology keeps changing and prior experience isn't quite applicable. 

In the world of IP attorneys, is there a tendency to force out the older folks in favor of the younger, cheaper and more energetic ones?  What do you see as the typical path for attorneys in their upper 40s or 50s as individual contributors (non-partner or chief IP counsel etc)?

[stuffball]

There are a handful of firms who will hire elderly associates, but they're generally not the best paying firms.  Very few of us will end up in in-house counsel positions.  Maybe 1 in 20?

The rest of us will end up burned out and desperate but, hopefully, with a decent savings account balance.  From your description, it sounds like we won't be working as engineers.

[horsechute]

"Become a very bitter highschool science teacher.  On second thought, there's really no other kind"

LOL.

I suppose someone could return to the PTO and be a claims adjuster, but frankly I have never seen anyone boomarang from PTO to law firm back to PTO.

[Examinerguy]

I suppose someone could return to the PTO and be a claims adjuster, but frankly I have never seen anyone boomarang from PTO to law firm back to PTO.

I can name 6.

[klaviernista]

I suppose someone could return to the PTO and be a claims adjuster, but frankly I have never seen anyone boomarang from PTO to law firm back to PTO.

One of my good friends did that.  He went from PTO examiner, to student associate, to associate, to PTO examiner, to associate in another firm.  His second stint at the PTO was only 3 months.

[bleedingpen]

Most people then start their own firm. 

[xmnr]

I have never seen anyone boomarang from PTO to law firm back to PTO

I've also seen a fair share of boomerang examiners.  I won't come out and say that many of them couldn't hack it... but I think I just did.  To be fair, some come back for the incredible flexibility and alleged stability.  Incidentally, the PTO's plan to hire former examiners irks me for this reason, since the really good and talented examiners don't seem to come back.

[horsechute]

"the PTO's plan to hire former examiners irks me for this reason, since the really good and talented examiners don't seem to come back."

I guess you get what you pay for.