Home » Patent Career

Patent Career

We’ve put together a number of articles on a career in patent law here. For your convenience, we have broken the articles up into the following categories:

Here’s a listing of all our Patent Career Articles:

Detailed Statistics on Frequently Tested Topics for the Patent Bar

There is quite a bit of information covered in the MPEP. After all, it is a few thousand pages long. You can flail throughout its pages, spending hours in a chapter like Chapter 1000: “Matters Decided by Various U.S. Patent and Trademark Office Officials” if you wanted to. Or even spend an entire weekend covering [...]

Discover How to Get Insider Info on over 350 Legal Firms

If you’re considering working for a law firm once you pass the Patent Bar Exam (or are considering changing firms), Vault.com has a Membership program that could prove to be invaluable for you. It’s called the Vault Gold membership. Once you become a member, you will receive access to all of Vault’s career information like [...]

Financing Law School

If you’re like most prospective law students, one of the biggest hurdles with law school is how you’re going to finance it. Fortunately enough, you can often find money for law school, whether it is in the form of grants, scholarships, or loans. By far, the most common source for law students seeking financial aid [...]

How Much Time Does it Take to Prepare for the Patent Bar Exam?

Everyone likes to ask it, so we will address it here. Just how much time do you need to prepare for this exam? Well, it varies all over the board, but one thing to keep in mind is that the PTO actually posts some previous Patent Bar exams (these were from before the computerized exam [...]

How to Land that First Job as a Patent Practitioner

Like any career, getting that first position as a patent agent or patent attorney will likely be the most difficult. You’ll run into the problem of not having any experience, but feeling as though you cannot gain any. Not every company will want to hire someone with no background in the field. Rest assured however, [...]

How to Make Your Patent Law Job Search as Painless as Possible

Getting ready to search for a job can be a little daunting. Long gone are the days where you just sat down on the sofa with the Sunday paper, circling ads. Now, with the click of a few buttons, you can be searching current jobs on the other side of the globe. And with just [...]

How to Select a Law School

So you’ve decided to go to law school – now what?  Choosing the right law school can be the difference between scraping through for three years and passing with flying colors – so don’t take this decision lightly!  There are a number of different factors to consider to find the best fit for you: Price [...]

Law School Life – Balancing Work and Play

It’s tempting to think that law school will be just like revisiting your undergraduate days – full of lazy evenings spent hanging out with friends over a cold Pepsi.  However, while you’ll certainly make new friends and have your share of fun at law school; expect to work much harder at your school work than [...]

Operation Patent Law Job: Preparing for Your Interview

You’ve sent out all the resumes and cover letters you could and waited and waited for the call. Finally the phone rings, and you’ve got an interview! Relief and anxiety pass over you as you realize… Once you get the call for your interview, the next thing you must do is prepare for it. You [...]

Overcoming Test Anxiety During the Patent Bar Exam

You’re bound to have at least a little test anxiety the day you go in to take the Patent Bar exam. After all, if you spent a decent amount of time preparing, you have at least that much riding on your success. No one wants to re-take it, so what can you do to calm [...]

Patent Bar Exam Study Tips

Studies have shown that individuals who don’t succeed usually either did not invest enough time in their studies, or invested their time in outdated and ineffective learning strategies. One of the problems is that the material you need to learn to pass the Patent Bar exam is very complex. It isn’t enough to just sit [...]

Patent Law Job Resources

There are a number of sites that have sprung up on the internet that offer a listing of patent law jobs. In addition, there are a few companies that specialize in the placement of Patent Agents and Patent Attorneys. We suggest that when you start looking for a job, you start with any contacts you [...]

Preparing for the LSAT

There’s no getting around the fact that taking the LSAT is stressful.  Your score on the exam is one of the major factors that determines which law schools you’ll get into – so it’s natural to experience exam day anxiety.  The only sure-fire way to prevent these nerves is with practice and preparation.  A good [...]

Resume Tips for Those Pursuing a Career in Patent Law

The Purpose of Your Resume Your resume is an important tool that communicates who you are. When it does the job right, you win an interview. Your resume doesn’t simply provide a prospective employer with your work history. It speaks loud and clear that you have the credentials needed to be a complete success as [...]

Salary Ranges for Patent Agents and Patent Attorneys

Everyone wants to know how much they’ll be making, but unfortunately, that’s a difficult question to answer. While the answer to this question are often inflated, we’ve done our best to provide you with accurate pay ranges. Patent Agent Salary According to research on PayScale.com (compiled from the year 2005), the average pay for a [...]

Should You Go to Law School?

The answer to this question might not be as simple as it sounds.  Many people pursue a law school degree for the wrong reasons – whether as a stop-gap measure between an undergraduate degree and the real world or because working as a lawyer will afford them the kind of lifestyle they’d like to have.  [...]

The Details of the Computerized Patent Bar Exam

All the questions on the Patent Bar exam come from the MPEP (Manual of Examining Procedure). In addition, the exam is open book and is composed of 100 multiple choice questions. Piece of cake, right? Who’s going to let a 100 question, multiple choice, open-book exam stand in the way of opening an entirely new [...]

The Who’s, What’s, When’s, and Where’s of the Patent Bar Exam

What’s the Patent Bar exam for? So, you’re thinking about taking the Patent Bar Exam? Maybe you’ve already decided to apply – or maybe you’re interested in finding out a little more about it? Well, you came to the right place. The first piece of advice: if you have any interest in becoming a registered [...]

Tips on Writing Your Law School Admissions Essay

If you’re applying for law school, you might think that the hard part’s over once you’ve taken the LSAT.  However, don’t let these feelings of apathy sink in until you’ve written your law school admissions essay!  The essay is one of the most important parts of your application because it gives you a chance to [...]

Understanding Law School Rankings

If you’re thinking about attending law school, you’ve probably heard the expressions “first-tier”, “third-tier” and so on, thrown about.  But what’s the big deal?  Is it really necessary to attend a top tier law school to get a good job after graduation?  Here’s a little more information on the current law school ranking system and [...]

Will You Fit in at a Law Firm?

Is a position at a law firm the right place for you? Unfortunately, it’s difficult to say because one law firm is different from the next. Your experience in a law firm may be completely different from someone else’s due to your specific environment. There really a wide range of opportunities for Patent Agents and [...]

Working as a Patent Examiner at the USPTO

Many Patent Practitioners get their feet wet with patents by working for the USPTO as a Patent Examiner. As a Patent Examiner, your job would consist of reviewing patent applications and determining whether they meet the requirements to issue as a patent. You will work closely with inventors and Patent Practitioners. As you can imagine, [...]