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[DonQuixote]

Apologies if this question has been posted before.  No luck finding it through search.

I am looking to start a career in Intellectual Property.  I graduated law school in May 2010, took the February bar exam, and I am currently eligible to that the patent bar under Category B: Option 4 (undergraduate in telecommunications/psychology).

"Option 4: 40 semester hours in a combination consisting of the following:

8 semester hours of chemistry or 8 semester hours of physics, obtained in two sequential courses, each course including a lab, and
32 semester hours of chemistry, physics, biology, botany, microbiology, molecular biology, or engineering."

I am currently in the unenviable process of applying for permanent employment in this exceptional job market.  I am seeking advice and/or information about the job prospects in the IP realm for someone with category B patent bar eligibility.

Specifically:

What types of firms should I look at?
Likelihood of receiving a position with an IP firm with no specific undergraduate degree in a scientific or technical field?
Methods of improving my chances (resume tips)

Any other advice is appreciated.

[MYK]

Based on this and your previous two posts, I'm not seeing a really solid background in any particular field.  I think you'll have a hard time convincing any patent prosecution firm that you'd be suitable for patent drafting and prosecution.  There are a lot of IP litigation firms that like to have people who have passed the patent bar, though.

Even people with serious science backgrounds are having a hard time finding a patent firm job (e.g., a classmate of mine with a bio Ph.D., who isn't even getting interviews).  It might be better than general law, but it's still not a guaranteed path to employment.

You could always try overseas firms, especially India or China.

[DonQuixote]

You would be correct about the lack of a particular solid background.

It seems that if I am truly interested in pursuing IP, then the most likely option is in the "soft" IP area or patent litigation.  If I am unable to initially find work in IP, would my best option be to develop litigation skills and try to work my way into IP after I gain more experience (or is there a high risk of being pigeonholed?)?

Hopefully having taken the patent bar will still be of assistance in the job search for these positions.

MYK - Do you have any additional information on these overseas firms and why there may be more opportunities with them?

[Master_Blaster]

Apologies if this question has been posted before.  No luck finding it through search.

I am looking to start a career in Intellectual Property.  I graduated law school in May 2010, took the February bar exam, and I am currently eligible to that the patent bar under Category B: Option 4 (undergraduate in telecommunications/psychology).

"Option 4: 40 semester hours in a combination consisting of the following:

8 semester hours of chemistry or 8 semester hours of physics, obtained in two sequential courses, each course including a lab, and
32 semester hours of chemistry, physics, biology, botany, microbiology, molecular biology, or engineering."

I am currently in the unenviable process of applying for permanent employment in this exceptional job market.  I am seeking advice and/or information about the job prospects in the IP realm for someone with category B patent bar eligibility.

Specifically:

What types of firms should I look at?
Likelihood of receiving a position with an IP firm with no specific undergraduate degree in a scientific or technical field?
Methods of improving my chances (resume tips)

Any other advice is appreciated.

You're sunk.

Go into industry and report back in a decade.

[MYK]

It seems that if I am truly interested in pursuing IP, then the most likely option is in the "soft" IP area or patent litigation.  If I am unable to initially find work in IP, would my best option be to develop litigation skills and try to work my way into IP after I gain more experience (or is there a high risk of being pigeonholed?)?

If you go into patent litigation, why would you want to shift from there to the prosecution side?  Good patent litigators get paid more anyway.

I guess I see patent prosecution as something people go into if they are interested in the technological aspects of the work, and people who are interested in technology tend to go after technical degrees.  If you really feel a calling for patent prosecution work in particular, I think you'll need to get a bachelor's (or more) in a science or engineering field to make it.  If you mean that you want to do copyright and trademark work, you can do those with any JD, no patent bar required.