Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[giantsforever85]

Hi, I hate that my first post on here is a cry for help, but I need advice...I cannot find an IP law job (or any law job) anywhere in the NY/NJ area.

-I graduated middle of my class from a law school in the top-75
-I have passed the patent bar
-I have passed NY/NJ Bars
-I am 26 and attended law school straight out of undergrad (B.S. Civil Engr. from Top-35 school)

Any advice/suggestions as to where to go or what to do...Bills are piling up and I am desperate!

[blakesq]

indeed.com; IP TODAY classifieds, JPTOS classifieds, monster.com, careerbuilder.com; law360 classifieds.  Good luck. 

[AnotherCog]

Hi, I hate that my first post on here is a cry for help, but I need advice...I cannot find an IP law job (or any law job) anywhere in the NY/NJ area.

-I graduated middle of my class from a law school in the top-75
-I have passed the patent bar
-I have passed NY/NJ Bars
-I am 26 and attended law school straight out of undergrad (B.S. Civil Engr. from Top-35 school)

Any advice/suggestions as to where to go or what to do...Bills are piling up and I am desperate!

1. Expand your search area to secondary markets.
2. Apply to work at the Patent Office.
3. Go back for a Master's in CS/EE, if your goal is to do patent law.
4. Build a time machine and charge recent law grads admission.

[OMG IP]

If you truly want to work in IP Expand your search to the entire US.  Seriously.

[Physgeek]

If you truly want to work in IP Expand your search to the entire US.  Seriously.

Agreed.

Also, applying only for posted jobs is for suckers. There are 10,000 other new grads just like you who want to work in IP in New York or New Jersey, and there are 20,000 who have 3+ years of experience who are trying to lateral. (Do apply to posted jobs, but that should be a very small part of your search.) Network, network, network. Surely you know somebody who works in IP law? Ask them to introduce you to other IP attorneys. And ask the other IP attorneys to introduce you to others. Rinse, repeat.

Are you reading and following the instructions of one or more job hunting books?

Link to Amazon: http://preview.tinyurl.com/4o23j3h

I am currently reading How to Crack the Hidden Job Market. Guerilla Marketing for Job Hunters is worth checking out from the library, but don't follow their resume instructions.

Best of luck.

Physgeek

...And there are also 30,000 people who, like me, want to work for Google. 

[jason.ingerman]

Some of us don't have the option of moving across the country for a job, or even to the DC area to work at PTO.  Some of us also don't have the financial resources or the time to go back to school for a masters degree.  Our job hunt options are limited to the area around which we currently live and to those jobs that we currently match with.

I'm pretty sure I'm not the only one is this predicament, and I have a feeling that the original poster may be as well.

If anyone has any more "local" suggestions, we're all ears.

[Isaac]

If anyone has any more "local" suggestions, we're all ears.

Isn't this your first post here?  Why not post something about your own situation?  As you can probably understand, being confined to a particular area is a huge constraint on the job search.  If you aren't a civil engineering major stuck in the NY/NJ area, you might not hear anything helpful unless you ask.

[jason.ingerman]

Point taken Isaac, thank you.

I graduated from a top-100 law school in 2010.  I went straight from undergrad (BA in biology from NYU) to law school.  I have been a registered patent agent since March 2010.  I have passed both the NY and NJ bar exams.  I am admitted to practice in New Jersey and will be admitted to practice in New York at the end of the month.  I spent both of my summers at an IP firm here in NYC.

I am limited to the NY/NJ area because my wife's job is here and she will be attending law school here in New York this coming fall.  We also just had our first child in August and are not really in the position to pick up and move, especially with all the help and support we get from our families, all of whom live in either NY or NJ.  It is simply not feasible for us to move at this time, or any time in the next 3 years.

I understand that being confined to one geographical area limits my job search, but to be honest I can probably count on one hand the number of job postings I have seen that are "entry level" in any part of the country.  (And before you say it, yes I know that scouring the job boards is not the only place to look.)  The fact is that with all of the layoffs in 2008 and 2009, there are plenty of unemployed patent agents/attorneys floating around who have 2-5 years experience under their belts.  This allows the law firms to be exceptionally choosy about who they hire.  Why get someone with 2 summers of experience (like me and the rest of the newly graduated lawyers in the country) when you can get someone with 5 years of experience?

(Apologies if any of that comes off not sounding calm and collected.  It's quite frustrating.)

[Isaac]

I can probably count on one hand the number of job postings I have seen that are "entry level" in any part of the country.

It's not that job boards are not the the only place to look.  Job boards are an exceedingly poor place to look for entry level patent jobs.  Essentially nobody spends any money adverstising for jobs for inexperienced patent practitioners because they already get for free more resumes than they can handle. 

You're job search should primarily involve networking.   If you really want to stay in a particular area, and your current networking methods aren't working, then I'd recommend seeking some professional job with how to do networking.  (I don't mean recruiter help.  I doubt many of them are going to give you the time of day).

FWIW, I meet people in the DC area, mostly non-lawyers, who have had to move away from their families for a time.  I did it for a few months when I first moved here from NC.  The housing market, school enrollment, etc. can cause this kind of thing.  I'm not making a recommendation, just throwing stuff out there.

[andylam]

Please let me know if you are interested to work with me as part time.  Mainly in prosecution.  The cases are written by non-native speakers and I am looking for native speakers to revise them before filing.

Renumeration:  ~$100-$150 per hour (negotiable). 

Responsibility:
- revise patent applications
- file applications to USPTO

Thanks,
Andy Lam