Is anyone a patent attorney?

[crofty1984]

I'm considering a career change. I work as a sales engineer and was thinking it would be a good fit (accepting I'd have to go in as a trainee/graduate). Using my engineering knowledge but also the soft skills I've picked up, but without the "need to sell £x per month" part. Seems more helpful, working with people to help patent their new discovery and being at the cutting edge of development.
Would anyone mind if I asked some questions, or mind giving me a rundown of what to expect if I applied?

[Dynion Araf Uchaf]

my S-I-L is a patent agent, in fact she headed up and got an OBE for her work with the CIPA.
Her back ground was sciences, and worked with large corporates like Unilever ,Shell to help apply patents through legal process and her knowledge of natural science. She has a double first from Cambridge and can argue legal cases in both French and German, She is however exceptional. You have to join a patent agency and pretty much be the best of the best. Scientific patents are more common place than engineering ones, however just like in any law firm there is an element of selling via account management.

It is an insular, very academic profession ,stuffy in attitude and you better know your onions. At the least if you want to become and engineering specialist patent agent you'd need a very good engineering degree from a very good university and some significant experience in product design or development in a hands on 'I Built this' way. Good luck.

[crofty1984]

Dynion Araf Uchaf said:

my S-I-L is a patent agent, in fact she headed up and got an OBE for her work with the CIPA.
Her back ground was sciences, and worked with large corporates like Unilever ,Shell to help apply patents through legal process and her knowledge of natural science. She has a double first from Cambridge and can argue legal cases in both French and German, She is however exceptional. You have to join a patent agency and pretty much be the best of the best. Scientific patents are more common place than engineering ones, however just like in any law firm there is an element of selling via account management.

It is an insular, very academic profession ,stuffy in attitude and you better know your onions. At the least if you want to become and engineering specialist patent agent you'd need a very good engineering degree from a very good university and some significant experience in product design or development in a hands on 'I Built this' way. Good luck.

Looks like a career stacking shelves for me then! Thanks for taking the time to reply, don't think I quite measure up to your SIL but it's worth a try at least. I'm willing to start at the bottom and work my way up. Looks like I'll need to buy a sensible car to be seen in!

[take-good-care-of-the-forest-dewey]

I have a mate who is one. Very similar academic background. Science 1st and PhD. They found it challenging and a long slog.

ETA to offer some hope, they started their career in this rather than with a proven track record of design / discoveries as suggested above.

Edited by take-good-care-of-the-forest-dewey on Monday 18th January 10:28

[crofty1984]

Thanks both for replying. I'll apply for it, though if I'm honest I'm not sure how successful I'll be. I'm looking at their graduate scheme, I'm a bit old compared to a lot that will be applying (36) and don't have a 1st in my mech eng degree, but I'm hoping 14 years of experience in the commercial side of engineering, would help to balance that.

[bucksmanuk]

I’ve met 2 in my career from the other side of the desk on separate occasions. I can only echo as to what’s been said above. They are/were switched on cookies, although neither of them had any experience in actually “doing the do”.

One is a patent agent in an office, that I was paying for…..and one was an in house patent agent for a mega multinational – now retired – who was a friend of an Ex-MD and offered free priceless advice. Both were very interested in the ideas on the table, and also full of ideas/advice and enthusiasm as to how to go forward.

I expected to hear the stuffiness as mentioned above, but both were very practically minded.

I was talking to them to see how best to structure the language and information on the actual patent

There is a whole new vocabulary with regards to the words chosen for patent stuff, and it’s very easy for the inexperienced to trip up.

For the skill set required, I can see where £175/hr + vat comes from…

[lostmotel]

I'm in-house at a big industrial. Entered the profession fresh from university in 2009 (so haven't "done the done" as it were) and was in private practice until the start of 2017. I wouldn't say it's a difficult to qualify, the examinations are hard but being "fitness to practice" tests they favour those with some experience under their belt. Hence those who try to rush through the process can struggle. I did the foundation level course at Bournemouth University in 2011, and completed my advanced level UK quals in 2015. By then I'd had plenty of client exposure and a good variety of work.

There used to be a fair few patent attorneys on here (patently, katzenjammer, can't remember any other nicknames) but it's been fairly quiet over the pst year or so...

Feel free to drop me a PM, or ask on here if others have an interest.

[frisbee]

An engineering company I worked at formed a softball team with a firm of patent attorneys.

I don't remember the the pre-requisites for the junior attorneys being particularly onerous, our engineering company had more Phds. Engineering was the spotty ginger kid of the patent world however, bio-tech was where the money was.

[crofty1984]

frisbee said:

An engineering company I worked at formed a softball team with a firm of patent attorneys.

I don't remember the the pre-requisites for the junior attorneys being particularly onerous, our engineering company had more Phds. Engineering was the spotty ginger kid of the patent world however, bio-tech was where the money was.

Funny enough, I'm fine with that. Biotech and computing, this way. Some bloke walks in from his shed with muck under his fingernails - "Crofty! He's one of yours!"

[crofty1984]

Hello everyone. Thank you for sharing your experiences, it's given me a lot to think about.

[anonymous-user]

I have an old friend who is an equity partner in a firm of patent agents/trademark attorneys. He has a high 2.1 in Physics from Oxford (he has a First Class brain but was a massive drunko at college). He worked at the Patent Office in Berlin before qualifying. He learned German and handles cases in German as well as English. He says that the profession is quite small, a bit old fashioned despite dealing with cutting edge tech, and he complains that not enough young people are encouraged by the older practitioners, but he enjoys the work and it pays him fairly well.

[renmure]

Mrs R is a senior patent attorney, director and one of management team at one of the largest Pan European IP firms. She's actually fairly normal, funny, friendly and can hold a conversation without staring at her shoe-laces. Some of her colleagues can struggle a bit with some of these things.

If you drop me an email I'll happily put you in touch for a chat and you can fill yer boots about the profession, training programs and all that jazz.

To add..

Trainee patent attorneys come from all sorts of background; some directly following undergraduate degrees, some after post grad, some following a change in career after working in industry, some folk get their first experience of IP working on projects where innovation is part of the process and find themselves drawn more to that aspect and some are, simply, just geeks. Fortunately the client base is broad enough to accommodate all sorts.

Edited by renmure on Tuesday 26th January 20:52