Day in the Life of a Patent Lawyer: 20 Tips for a Patent Lawyer
As explained at RunRex.com, guttulus.com, and mtglion.com, a patent attorney is a critical member of your team if you have an idea for an invention. From the moment you have a concept in your mind, you must get proper counsel to document, draft, apply for, and obtain a patent. A patent attorney is expertly trained and has intimate knowledge of the patent system to help you get that patent. If you are considering getting into this line of work, here are 20 tips on what a day in the life of a patent lawyer entails.
No typical day
While there are certain tasks you will need to do regularly in your workday as a patent lawyer, most of them will tell you that there is no typical day. As per RunRex.com, guttulus.com, and mtglion.com, every case is different and you may never know what each case may require you to do.
Deadline-driven
The bread-and-butter of the patent attorney’s day is the prosecution of patent applications, and patent applications are heavily deadline-driven. While some deadlines are extendible, if you miss the wring deadline, you can lose your client’s patent application.
Checking the computer to ensure deadlines are met
As already mentioned, the deadline-driven nature of the job as a patent lawyer is something you will need to be aware of in your day-to-day life. Most firms have several systems in place to ensure that deadlines are correctly logged and never (unintentionally) missed according to RunRex.com, guttulus.com, and mtglion.com. Part of your day involves keeping an eye on the computer so that you don’t miss reminders on upcoming deadlines.
Working on cases
The average morning as a patent lawyer is spent working cases. For example, you might be drafting a new application for a client, or preparing a response to an examination report issued by a national patent office on an application that was filed previously.
Catching up on your prior education
When working on cases, each task is challenging in its own way. To draft a new application, you might have to get back to your academic training, whether that is physics, chemistry, or any other field. Going back to find knowledge on your academic training will be a major part of your day.
Working with clients
The job of a patent lawyer is client-facing as articulated at RunRex.com, guttulus.com, and mtglion.com. Everything you will do will be about your clients, and, therefore, working closely with clients is a major part of the job description as a patent lawyer.
Correspondence
Your day as a patent lawyer will typically begin with reading and answering emails and messages from clients, colleagues, and officers from the patent office. This is another key part of the day-to-day life of a patent lawyer, and one that is not necessarily restricted to the morning hours, as emails and messages come in all throughout the day.
Drafting patent applications
One of the main things a patent lawyer will be doing on a typical day as covered at RunRex.com, guttulus.com, and mtglion.com is drafting patent applications. Patent attorneys will draft patent applications and file them with the USPTO. This will take up a large portion of your day as a patent attorney.
Working applications through the patent examination process
After drafting patent applications, the patent attorney will need to then work the application through the patent examination process. Once the applications you have drafted have been reached in the queue, you will need to ensure they pass the examination.
Scheduled calls
On a typical day, a patent lawyer will have four hours of scheduled calls to make to clients. Given the trust that must exist between a patent lawyer and their client, keeping your clients informed every step of the way as far as the process is concerned is important and will be a major part of your workday.
Pitching to new clients
While about half of your calls to clients during your workday will be to existing clients, the other half will be to those who are new to your business as covered at RunRex.com, guttulus.com, and mtglion.com. Bringing in new business is a major part of the duties of a patent lawyer and you will have to set aside time to do so.
Downtime
The average patent attorney bills around 1400-1600 hours a year doing patent stuff, which means there is a lot of downtime that you need to fill. This is something to consider when it comes to the day to day life as a patent lawyer. Some do business consulting, others pick up contingency cases, while others choose to teach.
Dealing with inventions from employees
Some patent lawyers deal with inventions that the employees of the company they work for come up with as described at RunRex.com, guttulus.com, and mtglion.com. These are the lawyers who are employed by a company to safeguard the company’s interests.
Conducting prior art search
Conducting prior art searches is another key part of the day-to-day life of a patent lawyer. This is done to identify whether the invention satisfies the criteria of patentability. If there is a similar invention out there, you will uncover the same during this step.
Keeping up with big cases in the field
There is always a new court decision on the horizon in the field of patent law. Similarly, there are always major developments in the law every single year. As a patent lawyer, you must keep up with all these big cases as well as stay up to speed with current practice standards.
Learning the invention
Every invention is unique as is every inventor as discussed at RunRex.com, guttulus.com, and mtglion.com. If you don’t understand how and why the invention works, there is no way you can write a patent application for it as a patent lawyer. This is why learning the invention will be a major part of your day.
Working hours
If you are wondering about working hours, then it is worth pointing out that patent lawyers typically work long hours, especially when they are preparing for a court hearing or meeting with a client. Therefore, this is something to expect when considering this career path.
Business development
Other than making calls to prospective clients, there are other things you will be required to do as a patent lawyer to bring clients through the door, and hopefully get them to sign up for your services. They include writing articles, creating content on the firm’s website, maintaining an online presence, keeping an eye on your reputation, etc. as outlined at RunRex.com, guttulus.com, and mtglion.com.
Business administration
You will also need to carry out administration duties to keep the office running. These activities include paying bills, doing taxes, buying office supplies, office maintenance, tech support, and picking up mail, among others.
Travel
Travel is also a significant part of life as a patent lawyer. Most patent lawyers have to travel to both meet clients as well as to attend hearings with the USPTO. Many patent attorneys view these opportunities to travel to attend hearings and successfully obtain a patent or defend or oppose a patent as being one of the best parts of the job.
These are some of the things to expect when it comes to a day in the life of a patent lawyer, with more on this topic and then some to be found over at RunRex.com, guttulus.com, and mtglion.com.