Print

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

[jeremystrause]

Which one is more prestigious for a market like Boston? I've heard that a degree from Harvard doesn't help you in Boston because so many Harvard grads want to stay in Boston, so there's a lot of them. Which one would mean more on a resume for a Boston IP firm?

Also feel free to give me the names of other prestigious law schools that specialize in IP.

Thanks!

[AnotherCog]

Both schools will open doors in any market.  The idea that any particular law school has a "specialty" in IP is a bit of a misconception, though. (The exception being maybe Franklin Pierce)  Most practicing lawyers will tell you that law school, even those with "top" IP programs, don't really teach students the first thing about practicing law.  Law professors worry about esoteric things like the economic effect of a first to invent patent system, while practicing lawyers worry about actually getting patents issued.  All a top law degree really means is that the person is probably a good student and/or relatively smart, both qualities that are desirable when training a new hire on how to actually practice law.

IP is also a nebulous category, so it all depends.  There's patent law and then there's soft IP (trademarks, copyrights, etc.).  Patent law is almost exclusively a function of your undergraduate major and related graduate degrees.  So, if the job calls for someone with a background in electrical engineering, a T14 law degree doesn't mean squat if the candidate doesn't have an EE degree.  Soft IP doesn't have the same restrictions, but there's also less of a demand for soft IP lawyers.