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[EE2JD]

Wow, That's pretty depressing........ Makes me wish I went to school a couple of years earlier when I had the chance...

I'm definately voting this election....

[eslifer]

First of all, I just wanted to revive this thread again with its intended purpose.   
Therefore, I was wondering if anyone can give some insight about the IP job market now with respect to the economy.

Secondly, I was wondering if any other law students or recent grads in the IP field that can give their input about their current situation (i.e., 2L, 3L , ranking and their job opportunities...etc..)

As for me, I'm only a 1L with both an EE and CompE degree attending a tier 2 school working hard to attain good grades.  What worries me is that I won't be able to find a job if I don't fair well with my classes or if the market isn't great by the time I graduate.

I guess its the stress factor I'm receiving right now.  I apologize for rambling... Thanks for any views and responses

For someone who has passed the patent bar, never been involved in patent law, and graduated law school more than 10 years ago, the market seems to suck.  With you still being in school, I'd recommend you do whatever you need to do to gain some experience during the summer in a patent office/firm.  If you can get a summer clerking position, great.  If not, if you can afford to intern for no pay, offer to do that.  Getting your foot in the door is key. 

I may be off base in this assessment, but it appears that the firms don't want to hire people with no experience because they pay them way too much to begin with.  Average starting salaries for most of the patent firms in the Philly area range between $125K to 145K.  That's a lot of money to pay to train someone, more so when most attorneys I've spoken to say it takes almost 2 years before the attorney becomes profitable to the firm.  Get your foot in the door anyway you can to make yourself more attractive and marketable to these firms.  If working for 3 months between years in law school gets you that experience, it would be well worth the investment on your part.

[dz]

[begin quote]
I believe that the economic trajectory is ballistic for the next year to two years.  After that, this election will probably spell the difference between a prolonged depression along the lines of the 1930s or a relatively sluggish bounceback.  Trade protectionism will play a big part in this, as will tax hikes, exactly as they did in the 1930s.
[end quote]

I don't mean to go off on a tangent here, but I clearly remember the current president encouraging America to become an "ownership society" several years ago.  You should own your own home, you should invest your retirement in stocks, Uncle Sam will give you a tax cut to do those things...  Couple that with deregulation on an unprecedented scale - call it free society and market economy.  And now we have a subprime disaster dragging the entire economy down the drain for years to come.  Even now you have some politician saying "why do we want to cut anybody's tax?"  I guess that also includes those Wall Street types that made millions and millions by bundling fraudulent mortgages into financial products and sold them to all of us.  I guess we should let those people keep what they got no doubt, because in a time like this, why would you want to cut anybody's tax?  While the world bitches and moans about China selling milk and candies tainted with melamine, let's not forget how America sold billions and trillions of toxic stocks and bonds that wiped out numerous people's life savings and retirements half a world away.

But then again, China is still the enemy here, because it is not a democracy, it sold us tainted pet food and poisonous toys.  Yes we are going to borrow another $700 billion to nationalize those failing banks, but who are we going to sell those newly issued government bonds to?  I hope definitely not China again, because we don't want to borrow money from the Chinese, who already hold some $500 billion US treasury bonds.  The Chinese have already poisoned our dogs and cats and some of our babies.  We are definitely not going to let them possess more means to do us more harm.  You know: we do have a hero who did 6 years in a Viet Con prison getting beaten up every day, and he really despises and distrusts those goons and thugs who can't even speak half a word of decent English.  He will protect us in a time like this.  Let him be our president and we will see what he can do for America.  Will he be our man?  You betcha!

We will see what happens on November 4.  The voice of Joe-the-plumber-to-be will be heard.  Please go vote!

Sorry for blowing off my steam here.  If I have offended you, please understand that was not my intent.

[eslifer]

How does this political discussion, for either side, help here? 

(They've both run despicable campaigns and lied through their teeth.)

[dz]

How does this political discussion, for either side, help here? 

(They've both run despicable campaigns and lied through their teeth.)

We burn anywhere from $12 to 15 billion a month in Iraq, so that's around $150 to 180 billion a year, and it's 5 years and counting.  That's at least $750 billion so far, enough to bail out those failing banks currently being cleaned out by the subprime disaster, including the billions that we will pay under contract to those institution's upper-level management that ran the business into the ground in the first place.  And if November 4 goes a certain way, our next president wants to commit to Iraq for another 100 years if he has to.  That is some commitment to democracy and freedom my friend...

Just go vote on November 4.  Even if you don't like the outcome, at least you did your part.

[EE2JD]

Well, obviously i do believe many people will vote on this upcoming election no doubt.  The real encouragement necessary is from the swing states (i.e., Florida, Ohio).

What worries me is the deficit created from the financial crisis.  It appears that some of the factors that caused the crisis hasn't been addressed (i.e., credit default swaps).  Though, the subprime lending was the trigger effect for this crisis, it appears that U.S. Federal Reserve and U.S. Treasury haven't fully addressed the issue.  Google it for more info...

Anyhow, my apologies for digressing.... Yes, I do agree with the previous posts that the votes for the upcoming election are critical. 

[dz]

Well, obviously i do believe many people will vote on this upcoming election no doubt.  The real encouragement necessary is from the swing states (i.e., Florida, Ohio).

What worries me is the deficit created from the financial crisis.  It appears that some of the factors that caused the crisis hasn't been addressed (i.e., credit default swaps).  Though, the subprime lending was the trigger effect for this crisis, it appears that U.S. Federal Reserve and U.S. Treasury haven't fully addressed the issue.  Google it for more info...

Anyhow, my apologies for digressing.... Yes, I do agree with the previous posts that the votes for the upcoming election are critical. 

Hear hear.  Subprime is the tip of the iceburg, which is only a small fraction of the entire problem.  When the dust finally settles, god knows how much will still be left.

[eslifer]

Goodbye.

[MYK]

I am minded of Gen. Jack Turgidson's retort in "Dr. Strangelove":

Mr. President, we are rapidly approaching a moment of truth both for ourselves as human beings and for the life of our nation. Now, the truth is not always a pleasant thing, but it is necessary now make a choice, to choose between two admittedly regrettable, but nevertheless, distinguishable post-war environments: one where you got twenty million people killed, and the other where you got a hundred and fifty million people killed.

Please don't get me wrong -- I am not saying one candidate is going to be better than the other, or turn everything into sunshine and rainbows.  I am solely pointing out that one candidate has articulated policies which will be moderately disastrous if implemented, while the other candidate has articulated policies which will be severely disastrous if implemented.  Either way, we're gonna get a disaster if they actually go ahead and implement those policies.

I look to our supposedly intelligent and sane Congress to prevent either of these from happening.

Oh, shi. . . . . . . . .

[EE2JD]

I am also considering working internationally in the field of IP law since the US appears to be going through shi.....


What are the job prospects like outside the U.S.? 

[dz]

I am also considering working internationally in the field of IP law since the US appears to be going through shi.....


What are the job prospects like outside the U.S.? 

There is a lot of talk about how China will spend its $2 trillion in foreign currency reserve since the US is arm twisting China to appreciate its currency [beyond the 20% the Chinese yuan has already moved up in the past 2 years].  Might as well spend those US $ before they depreciates further, right?  Ergo the talk about importing technology and moving the economy from a sweatshop variety to a more technology-based, more sustainable in the future type.  The US has a general technology embargo on China, so I don't know whom the Chinese are going to buy from.  Maybe the Europeans or the Japanese.  Or they can throw money at those universities and institutes that supposedly crank out over half a million engineers each year (can't all be qualified, that's for sure).  Or they can give those Chinese researchers in the US large grants and ask them to come home.  It will take years for this investment to pan out if it is successful at all.

I have no idea how this transition from simple toys and electronics to cars and alternative energy is going to play out.  The increase of utility applications at PTO from China is dramatic in the past few years, but I don't know if this is a long term phenomenon.

As for the litigation side of the IP business, the overall talk is if a foreign entity sues in a Chinese court, its odds of winning is around 60%.  Since the perception is that infringement is still rampant in China, maybe there is still room for improvement on winning more cases.  However, by far the easiest way to get justice in China is to use administrative raid to shut down those copycats.  It is fast and doesn't go through the court proceedings at all, but that's a story for another day.

Anyway, I am visiting China early next year and will be talking to some people over there.  I will let you guys know what I hear.  Hopefully, those law professors and government bureaucrats in China won't be blowing too much smoke on this issue.