Careers in STEM Law
Are you currently in college or graduate school and pursuing a STEM degree but are uncertain of your future career path?
Are you someone with a science background but looking for a career change?
Consider whether you might put your education, background, and interest to use in the exciting fields of intellectual property law and policy.
The resources available on these pages will help introduce STEM students, those currently working in STEM fields, and legal professionals to career opportunities in STEM law.
These opportunities can be professionally enriching, intellectually stimulating, and financially rewarding.
When it comes to choosing the right path for you in these areas, there are two critical career options this site will describe: you can consider whether a career as a Patent Agent or a Patent Attorney might be right for you.
A Patent Agent is someone who does not have to attend law school but does need to take the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office’s patent bar exam.
A Patent Attorney does have to attend law school. They can also take the patent bar after graduating law school and be both a Patent Agent and a Patent Attorney.
Each of these different paths are described in depth here.
Have a STEM Degree or looking for career outside of STEM that utilizes technical knowledge?
Want to practice law and use your STEM degree?
Use the resources on these pages to learn all about career paths and opportunities in STEM law and also take our quiz at the bottom of this page to help determine what might be the right path for you.
Introduction to Intellectual Property
For students with STEM backgrounds there are exclusive career opportunities for students at the intersection of science innovation and law.
According to the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), intellectual property (IP) refers to “creations of the mind, such as a creative work, an invention, or a distinctive indicator of a product’s source, that may be protected by certain intangible property rights.” The most common areas of IP include patents, trademarks, copyrights, and trade secrets.
The progression of technology has provided virtually all businesses with access to export products or services to worldwide markets. However, effectively, all businesses compete on a global playing field. Therefore, it is more critical today than ever for commercial enterprises, inventors, authors, and creators to protect their intellectual property internationally in a streamlined and affordable manner.
Generally speaking, there are three types of protections offered through intellectual property law: patents, copyrights, and trademarks.
A patent is a negative right granted to inventors that allow inventors to exclude others from selling, making, or using their invention for 15-20 years from the patent application’s filing date, provided the inventor’s patent application publicly discloses their invention. Patentability requirements differ between nations, so it is impractical to develop internationally uniform requirements. However, at a minimum, several conditions must be met for an invention to be patentable, including patent-eligible subject matter, novelty, nonobviousness (also known as an inventive step), the capability of industrial application (also known as utility), and enabling disclosure.
There are three types of patents - utility, design, and plant. Utility patents may be granted to anyone who invents or discovers any new and useful process, machine, article of manufacture, or compositions of matters, or any new useful improvement thereof. By far, most patent applications filed at the USPTO are utility applications. Design patents may be granted to anyone who invents a new, original, and ornamental design for an article of manufacture. Plant patents may be granted to anyone who invents or discovers and asexually reproduces any distinct and new variety of plant.
Copyright (©) is the legal right that creators use to enforce the protection of their creative works. The creative works eligible for copyright protection include technical drawings, advertisements, maps, computer code, music, paintings, books, sculptures, and movies. In addition, copyright owners have economic and moral rights over their literary and artistic works. Economic rights include receiving compensation and preventing or authorizing the work’s reproduction, public performance, recording, broadcasting, translation, and adaptation. Moral rights include establishing the work’s authorship and denying alterations that would harm the creator’s reputation.
A trademark (™), which is a protected form of IP, is a sign which identifies the services or goods of a business as coming from a particular source. The IP categories that constitute trademarks are indefinite but most commonly include alphabetical letters, words, phrases, numbers, drawings, symbols, shapes, three-dimensional packages of goods, sounds, fragrances, and color shades.
The major career options in patent law include being a Patent Agent, a Patent Attorney, a Patent Litigator, a Patent Paralegal and a United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) Patent Examiner.
Allie Scoville
Patent agents help inventors through the process of preparing and filing patent applications and corresponding with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) and foreign patent offices. Through patent agents, inventors apply for patents to protect their rights to their invention. Upon successful prosecution of a patent application, the USPTO issues patents that exclude others from using or selling the invention for a specified time period. To be registered as a patent agent you must pass an exam administered by the USPTO called the patent bar examination.
According to the ABA, as of September 2020, there were 47,228 registered patent practitioners in the U.S., which includes both patent attorneys and patent agents.
In order to become a Patent Agent, you must first pass the USPTO Patent Bar Examination. Unlike the attorney bar exam, you do not need to attend law school to take the Patent Bar Examination. However, you do need to meet the USPTO’s STEM higher educational background requirements to take the Patent Bar Examination.
According to firsthand, $96,264.
The key difference between a patent prosecution attorney and a patent agent is the extent of the legal services each can provide. Patent prosecution attorneys have a law degree, which enables patent prosecution attorneys to represent clients in patent litigation and patent infringement cases as well as practice areas of law outside of patent law (I.e., criminal law, contract law, etc.). Patent prosecution attorneys also have passed the patent bar examination (which is what provides them with the patent bar credential), so patent prosecution attorneys can prosecute patent cases before the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). Attorneys without a patent bar credential can represent clients in patent litigation and patent infringement cases (and thus may also call themselves “patent attorneys” but not “patent prosecution attorneys”) and can also represent clients in practice areas of law outside of patent law (I.e., criminal law, contract law, etc.).
Patent agents like patent prosecution attorneys can prosecute patent cases before the USPTO, but they cannot represent clients in a court of law because they do not have a law degree. The takeaway is that Patent Agents can practice ONLY patent prosecution.
Both patent prosecution attorneys and patent agents practice patent prosecution meaning they work with inventors, researchers, and attorneys to evaluate invention technology, assess patentability, draft patent applications, and analyze and respond to the United States Patent and Trademark (USPTO) Office Actions and responses. In these functions, patent agents perform precisely the same duties as patent prosecution attorneys.
Neither patent prosecution attorneys nor patent agents set foot in a court room as patent prosecution is practiced almost entirely between patent practitioners and the USPTO via the practitioners filing applications and responses, and the USPTO issuing responses via the USPTO Patent Center website. Patent prosecution attorneys and patent agents can practice patent prosecution remotely (at least part-time); this profession operated that way before COVID19. However, patent prosecution attorneys and patent agents sometimes travel to their clients' facilities for business meetings and/or to see their technology.
In addition to a very competitive starting salary and fast-growing demand, a career as a patent agent is also attractive for several other reasons:
- Patent agents do not spend three years in law school yet are just as qualified as patent prosecution attorneys to prepare and prosecute patent applications.
- Patent agents are registered with the USPTO—a federal bar—so they enjoy more career mobility than an attorney who is licensed in only one state jurisdiction.
- Companies and law firms often prefer patent agents to patent lawyers, because of the patent agent’s greater technical expertise, lower starting salary requirements, and equivalent ability to practice at the USPTO.
Patent agents enjoy options as to their preferred work environment, as they may serve, for example, in the intellectual property groups of law firms, in legal departments of corporations that conduct research and development, or in the technology transfer offices of research universities. Additionally, they may have their own private practices, or work at the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) as patent examiners.
Many big law firms will often encourage their patent agents or technical specialists to attend law school part-time. It’s usually reserved for patent agents with advanced technical degrees (masters in engineering (especially CS or EE) or PhD in a life sciences discipline). And many offer 100% tuition coverage.
Usually, there are strings attached: (1) you still must bill X hours/year while you’re in law school and (2) you have to stay on with the firm X years after you graduate.
One benefit, besides a high-paying job and no law school debt, is when these patent agents graduate and start as associates, they usually get some credit for past work and/or their advanced degrees. So, for example, someone had a PhD and had two years of patent agent experience at the firm before law school. When they went back after graduation, the firm gave this person 2 years credit for all that, so they started as a 3rd-year equivalent.
Going to Albany Law School made it possible for me to adjust my academic schedule to match my career goals of pursuing a career as a patent attorney. I completed my first 1.5 years at Albany Law School (Fall 2020 – Fall 2021) part-time while working full-time at Regeneron Pharmaceuticals as a Senior Biotech Production Specialist.
During this time, I gained experience in patent law through a city semester in practice at SUNY Research Foundation earning law school credit. I used my free time during the summer after my 1L year and fall of my 2L year to take a patent bar prep course. I passed the patent bar examination over winter break after my 2L year (Winter 2022).
After passing the patent bar, I left my job at Regeneron, transitioned to a small patent boutique as a part-time patent agent, and transitioned to the full-time program at Albany Law which would allow me to graduate in 3 years. During the Spring 2022 semester, I started to build experience as a patent agent working on patent applications, office action responses, restriction requirements, etc.
Then I transitioned to a large firm, Wilson Sonsini, in the Summer 2022 in NYC as a 2L summer associate. I have continued at Wilson Sonsini remotely as a part-time 3L Law Clerk and will return as a first-year associate in Fall 2023. In my current job function, I am a patent prosecutor writing claims, specifications, office action responses, patentability analysis, landscape analysis for various technologies such as electronics, biotechnology, chemical pharmaceuticals, superalloys, and plants.
A lot of students ask how I managed to work doing law school. In my opinion, flexibility, self-discipline and proper planning allow someone to succeed working while attending law school. The most effective strategy for me was to stay ahead on my assignments.
During my first year I treated the days that I had work as if it would not be possible for me to complete any schoolwork.
I worked Friday-Monday 12:00 pm – 10:30 pm. Thus, I would set earlier artificial deadlines, completing all assignments due on Monday or Tuesday by Thursday the week before. If I had extra time outside of work Friday-Monday, I would use that time to review the material I studied or to get further ahead on my assignments. This strategy helped me not only to survive but to do well. Often, I would be one of the first students to meet with the TA with questions on an assignment.
Furthermore, I would take all the midterm and final exam periods off from work. I highly recommend saving your PTO or requesting this time off so that you can dedicate 100% of your time to your studies during the midterm and final exam periods.
According to firsthand, $96,264.
Austin Winter
Evan Bernstein
Patent Attorneys are intellectual property lawyers who specialize in patent prosecution, which is securing patents for inventors from the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), representing clients in patent infringement litigation, or both. Patent law is a blending of two fields: applied science and law, and as such, patent lawyers usually have degrees both in law and a technical field, such as engineering. Patent lawyers usually earn more than lawyers in other fields.
Both patent agents and patent attorneys who practice patent prosecution have passed a United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) federal exam referred to as the “patent bar examination” that grants them a license to represent clients before the USPTO. Separate from patent agents, patent prosecution attorneys have also passed a state bar examination in at least one United States jurisdiction.
According to Statista, as of 2022 there are approximately 1.33 million lawyers in the U.S.
According to the ABA, as of September 2020, there were 47,228 registered patent practitioners in the U.S., which includes both patent attorneys and patent agents.
According to firsthand, $120,910.
Furthermore, if you buckle down in law school, put in the work, network, and learn how to market your skills, you could land a job at a Big Law firm that follows the Cravath scale with a salary starting at $215,000 (2022) as a first-year associate upon graduating from law school.
Patents are one category of intellectual property. All attorneys can practice copyright, trademark, patent litigation, and patent infringement law. Only attorneys who have passed the patent bar examination can practice patent prosecution law. Attorneys who have not passed the patent bar examination are not licensed by the USPTO to practice patent prosecution, and do not necessarily have specific or technical expertise related to patents.
Patent prosecution spans a range of activities, starting with working with inventors and innovators to assess inventions, performing patent and prior art searching – and continuing with writing patent applications.
The patent practitioner (i.e., patent attorney or patent agent) after gathering enough information regarding the invention files the patent application with the USPTO or foreign patent office. After that, the patent practitioner will monitor the patent application and discuss with the client the status of the application and any responses from the patent office (typically referred to as “Office Actions”). The responses from the patent office may include notices regarding the form of the application (such as missing parts, or margins or patent drawings that don’t comply with the rules), allowances, and rejections.
Patent prosecution includes the patent practitioner working with their client on a patent strategy that makes business sense for the client and advising the client on options regarding how to respond to patent office responses. The process of patent prosecution involves writing a persuasive patent application to convince a patent examiner (a person who works for the patent office such as the USPTO) to issue a patent.
When a response from the patent examiner is received, a patent practitioner can negotiate (in effect) with the examiner, in writing and in interviews, over what the invention is and why the invention should be patentable, to try to convince the examiner to grant their client a patent. At the same time, the examiner must gauge whether the patent application meets the requirements for patentability (such as subject matter eligibility, novelty, non-obviousness, usefulness, and disclosure).
Depending on how the patent prosecution goes, the client may be issued a patent quickly, and the patent practitioner may need to send multiple responses to the examiner, and perhaps appeal the examiner’s decision.
Patent litigators represent inventors in federal court to enforce their patents and defend clients against patent infringement claims. In addition to the typical work of a litigator—propagating and responding to discovery requests, taking and defending depositions, drafting documents for the court, engaging in legal research, and so on— patent litigators spend a lot of time looking at prior technology (called “prior art”) and working with technical experts.
A patent litigator is an attorney who represents clients in patent lawsuits, such as patent infringement litigation in federal court. Patent litigators are not necessarily registered with the USPTO. There is no requirement that a patent litigator must be registered to practice before the USPTO. Thus, unlike patent prosecution, no formal technical education is needed to practice patent litigation, but they are lawyers, so a legal education is needed.
Benjamin Charkow - Mauriel Kapouytian Woods LLP
Akilesh Shastri
Patent Examiner
In the United States, all patent examiner jobs are with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), a part of the Federal government. A patent examiner examines patent applications to determine whether a patent can be granted for various new inventions — many of which are on the cutting edge of tomorrow’s technological breakthroughs.
Patent examiners review two types of applications — design patents and utility patents. Design patents protect the ornamental appearance of an article, e.g. a watch face, while utility patents protect an invention, e.g. the watch itself.
Patent Examiners typically: (1) search prior art to ensure that an invention is new and unique, (2) review patent applications to ensure conformity to formal requirements and write office actions communicating their findings on patentability to inventors and patent practitioners.
A patent examiners examination of a patent application is done on a computer, so much of their day involves sitting for extended periods. Patent examiners typically focus on one area or industry, such as mechanical engineering or pharmaceuticals.
You need a minimum of a Bachelor’s degree in engineering or science. The degree has to be a 4-year course at an accredited college or university, or higher, that included a major field of study, or specific course requirements, in a variety of engineering and science disciplines. Check http://uspto.usajobs.gov for available positions.
You do not need to be a patent agent to work as a patent examiner.
This is exclusively a government job because no state, other group, company, or organization is permitted to grant patents to applicants. Patent examiners thus represent the government or the people in ensuring that patents are only granted for inventions that meet the statutory criteria.
Patent practitioners represent their clients at the USPTO by filing patent applications and arguing against rejections from patent examiners in pursuit of the grant of a patent.
Patent Bar Examination
The patent bar is an exam an individual must take to become a patent prosecution attorney or patent agent. If you pass the exam and complete the registration process you can represent inventors in front of the United States Trademark and Patent Office (USPTO).
There are no requirements that an applicant has gone to law school or is an attorney. A non-attorney applicant will become a patent agent, and an attorney applicant will become a patent prosecution attorney.
The exam is the same, and a patent agent will be a patent prosecution attorney after becoming an attorney and filing the correct paperwork with the USPTO. Since the purpose of the patent bar exam is to test the applicant’s understanding of patenting and patent law, there are no further requirements in this area. Also, the patent bar exam does not test on trademark law, and you must be an attorney to practice trademark law.
There are technical education requirements to take the patent bar exam.
To check if you satisfy the technical education requirements, please refer to the USPTO General Requirements Bulletin pages 5-11.
You can check the accreditation website if the degree you earned at your institution qualifies you to take the patent bar examination.
For questions on how to apply, you can call the USPTO Office of Enrollment and Discipline. Their email is OED@uspto.gov and phone is 571-272-4097.
You can qualify under category B without a STEM degree.
2. Category B Bachelor’s, Master's, or Ph.D. Degree: Category B has 4 different options. You must have a Bachelor's or higher degree (in any subject) to use this category. Note that only courses with a grade of C- or better can be used. Multiply Quarter Hours by 2/3 to convert to Semester Hours.
i. Option 1: Physics – 24 semester hours in physics. The courses must be for physics majors (for example, physics with calculus, as opposed to physics without calculus.)
ii. Option 2: Biology – 8 combined semester hours in chemistry or physics, plus 24 semester hours in biological sciences. Only biology, botany, microbiology, and molecular biology courses can be used for this option. The 8 hours in chemistry or physics must include at least one course with a lab component, and like Option 1, must be intended for majors in the subject.
iii. Option 3: Chemistry – Option 3 is like Option 1, except that it requires 30 hours of Chemistry courses. Again, only courses for majors are accepted.
iv. Option 4: Science/Engineering – For this option, you need 8 combined hours in chemistry, physics, and/or biology (only courses for majors, and one course must include a lab), and in addition, 32 semester hours in science or engineering courses. These can include: chemistry, physics, biology, botany, microbiology, molecular biology, or engineering. Computer science courses can qualify if they’re technical enough (see the General Requirements Bulletin below for more information). 4 hours in design engineering or drafting can be used. Note that if you have, for example, 12 semester hours in physics or chemistry, you can use 8 of them to meet the first part of the requirement and put the other 4 toward the second part.
Again, only courses for science and engineering majors will be accepted for category B.
a. Note that if you have a Bachelor’s or higher degree, but are a few credits short for one of the above options, you can take some courses at a local community college to qualify. Just make sure that your courses are acceptable before you take them.
b. Note that, under Category B, you must include official course descriptions from the year the course was taken. These are available from the registrar.
3. Training or expertise in one of the subjects in Category A. This is seldom used; see the GRB for more information.
4. Other Education (including Life Experience). We’ve seen very few people apply under this category, and even fewer do so successfully. See the GRB for more information.
5. Military Service: courses taken during military service. These credits must be able to be applied towards a degree at a college or university. See the GRB for more information.
Yes, you do not need a background in STEM to practice Patent Litigation or Technology Transactions. You also do not need a background in STEM to be a Patent Paralegal.
$502 in total. $110 application fee, $210 registration fee, and $173 testing fee.
You can take the patent bar exam as many times as you need to pass but you cannot take the exam if you’ve taken it in the past 30 days (in other words, you can’t take it more than once a month). If you’ve waited more than one year to retake the exam, you must re-submit all of your paperwork (transcripts, etc.) again.
FAQs
According to the National Association of Law Placement (NALP), the median salary for Class of 2020 graduates with a full-time job lasting at least one year and reporting a salary was $75,000; while the mean salary was $102,858. For jobs in private practice, the overall median salary was considerably higher, $130,000, and the average was $129,309.
Boutique IP firms typically specialize in a more focused niche area of law, and sometimes serve only a specific client profile. For example, a boutique patent law firm may handle only patent prosecution, patent litigation, technology transactions or a combination thereof.
Big law is the term the legal industry uses to describe the most successful and largest law firms, and the attorneys that work there are typically called Big law attorneys. Some of these large law firms have more than one thousand partners and span across the United States and globe.
The demand is strong for patent attorneys with a solid track record in protecting intellectual property in a growing and lucrative technical field. The supply of attorneys with the requisite technical background and legal experience is limited, which helps to maintain this demand.
According to erristeffes.com, more than 15% of law firm employment opportunities are in patent law, while only 3% of all attorneys in the United States are patent attorneys.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, in 2019 it was around 1.2%.
From 2007-2018, the average unemployment rate for the sector was 2.3%.
A patent offers its holder the legal right to both use and protect the invention described. This right, in many circumstances, is what makes the patent valuable. Patented technology that is incorporated into marketable products is easy for competitors to replicate; it’s also easy to detect infringement.
Most areas of law exchange value, but patent attorneys, by procuring patents for their clients, create value.
Introduction to Intellectual Property, Patents and Trade Secrets and others depending on the school.
Further Testimonials
Background
I am an associate patent attorney at Barclay Damon, LLP. I have a Ph.D. Chemistry from the University of California, Santa Cruz, and a B.S. in Chemical Engineering from the University of California Berkley. I attended law school at the University of California, Hastings College of the Law (in 2023, the name will be UC College of the Law, San Francisco).
What type of patent attorney are you (prosecution, litigation, tech transactions, combination)?
Patent and trademark prosecution, intellectual property litigation, and intellectual property due diligence/transactions
How did you become a patent attorney/How did you find out about career opportunities in patent law?
When I was in graduate school, I went to a career panel called “What to Do With Your PhD.” The professor on the panel was one of the winners of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry this year. I enjoyed the patent litigator’s description of her job and joined the Chemistry and the Law section of the American Chemical Society, where I spoke with more attorneys about their careers and the next steps that I should take.
Can you describe a typical day (projects/technology/meetings/how is your job a bridge between science, law, and business)?
My activities change day-to-day. I block-out time in the mornings to work on substantial projects, but that time is often fragmented with meetings or other urgent assignments. There is not much chemical innovation where I practice, so most of my patent work comes from foreign companies/foreign associates. My colleague who has a degree in electrical engineering and computer science patiently educates our litigation team, so we can competently represent local communications clients. The transactional matters that I work on typically involve more trademark, copyright, and social media than patent rights.
What do you enjoy most about being a patent attorney?
I enjoy the variety of work and interacting with clients to help identify their business goals and develop solutions to achieve those goals.
What are some of the most exciting projects you have worked on?
It was not a patent case, but I enjoyed going to trial in a federal fraud case and working with the expert who analyzed the loan financials for our client’s case. It was great experience to watch the trial from opening statements to closing arguments, and I hope to do it again. Our cases usually settle, which is the best business decision for both parties. My next trial is going to be for a pro bono case in just under two weeks.
How flexible is your work schedule?
Very. There is not much oversight at my current firm, and I appreciate having the flexibility to run a quick errand during the day or start earlier/later. I aim to be online when my colleagues are online, so that I am available via Teams/Zoom with the video on when they need me. Most of my colleagues have thrived, but I have seen new associates fall into the trap of starting very late—and never making up their hours. Since remote work will likely continue, it’s important to make the leap from student to professional mentality.
How often do you work remotely?
Two to three days per week.
Background
I am an associate patent attorney at Harrity & Harrity, LLP. I have a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from the University at Buffalo. I went to law school at Albany Law and graduated in 2018. Unlike a lot of people who find themselves in the field of patent law, I went to law school directly after undergrad. I learned about patent law through a course I took my junior year in undergrad.
At Harrity, I work on patent prosecution. Specifically, I focus on drafting patent applications. Before Harrity, I worked at another intellectual property law firm working in all areas of intellectual property law (patents, trademark, and copyright).
Typical Day/Exciting Projects/Work-to-Life Balance
I currently work remotely full time from my home. Harrity was fully remote even before the COVID-19 pandemic so we have a great set up that allows for that. My typical day includes 75% drafting patent applications (preparing claims, figures, and full patent applications), 20% calls with inventors and in-house counsel of clients to discuss inventions and patent applications that I’m preparing, and 5% calls with colleagues to catch up or to discuss internal matters at the firm.
One of my favorite things about my job is how flexible the work schedule is. I’m typically able to work on my own schedule, starting my day when I want. So long as I get my work done, I can really work when and where I want. I also really enjoy learning new technologies that I get to work with each day. I’m lucky enough to work with some really amazing clients that produce cutting edge technology. I get to learn about this technology from experts (the inventors) and help them to protect their ideas so that they can move forward implementing their ideas knowing that they will be protected. As an example, some of the most exciting projects I work on are when inventors come to us with an invention that they plan to include the invention in a software update that will be rolled out to millions of devices in the near future. It is exciting to know that this invention that I am helping to protect will actually by used in a few months by millions of people.
As a patent attorney, I’m able to work with different technologies every day so even though my job of preparing patent applications is the same, no two days are the same. Some days I work with mechanical inventions, other days I work with 5G wireless technology, and other days I work with solid-state storage devices for computers. It challenges me to continually learn and push myself and that keeps my job exciting and interesting.
Opinions
I chose to pursue patent law over a career in STEM because patent law provided an avenue to combine multiple areas that I was already interested in (technology and the law). Additionally, I knew that with a career in patent law I would be able to work with many different technologies, rather than having to work on the same technology every day (which is often the case with STEM jobs). The major benefit of working in patent law over other areas of law is that there is much less competition because there are just not that many patent attorneys out there.
There is a high barrier to entry (with requiring a STEM background), so many people do not pursue a career in patent law. The pay is great relative to other areas of law and the work/life balance is excellent. Especially for the patent prosecution, my work flow is very steady and predictable so I’m able to plan out my days pretty easily without having too many surprises (disclaimer that this may not be the case for patent litigation).
Patent practitioners are able to help bridge the gap between technology, business, and the law. Often, inventors know that they need to protect their ideas, but they don’t know how. It is exciting to be able to help inventors transform their idea into a patent that can actually be used to protect their idea. I’m able to work with clients to identify valuable ideas and to prepare patent applications that target valuable assets considering the invention, business objectives of the clients, and the landscape of the technology. It is very rewarding to look a patent you have prepared and know that it will be used by a client to license to competitors and/or to protect valuable products or services they provide.