About Robert Nunnally Expertise I have been a practicing attorney in Texas and then in California during the past fifteen years. I have practiced in firms as small as six attorneys and as large as 90+. I can give advice about careers in the law, from legal secretary to paralegal to attorney. I can help you with ideas about what law schools or paralegal programs might be right for you, about what colleges courses to take as a pre-law student, and about non-traditional ways to break into the legal support roles. I did my time successfully running the partnership track at a firm, and can help with advice about how you can make it in a firm even if you have a non-traditional approach to things. I also have had some success in helping people brainstorm about alternative careers in law or alternative careers outside law. I do not plan to give legal advice, so don`t ask me those questions--I`m here to help you jump-start your career thinking and figure out how to break in or enjoy the legal profession.
If patent related stuff is not your forte perhaps you could pass this along to someone who might provide additional leads.
The following is probably more background then you care to know. My primary question is in the last paragraph.
I am interested in becoming a patent agent as a (possible) post-corporate (2'nd) career. I have 25 years of experience in the food industry with a B.S. in Biology, a B.A. in Bacteriology and an M.S. in Food Science & Technology (all U.C. Davis). I am known as somewhat of a food technology pioneer in the field of extended shelf life fresh foods (with 4 patents and some National/International recognition). I have managed many of the technical areas of food businesses including R&D, QA, Food Safety, Packaging. I also worked early in my career as a research Chemist.
I am currently gainfully employed with a very good salary and benefits package. Regardless, I have always wanted to do something on my own and am prepared to accept some financial pain to start. If I elect to terminate my current job, I can (and probably will) consult but I really don't think consulting is what I want to do a lot of. I am looking for something I can do anywhere, ideally from home. I am an avid skier and mountain sports fan and I also love living here (in California) on the Monterey Peninsula. So, I am looking for a profession that will accommodate my working via the internet/electronic media from where ever I may be. Writing patents sounds viable on the surface but actually getting work doing it via the wireways is what I am trying to determine.
My question is, given my expertise is mostly biological and food industry related and that I want to work primarily from home, do you think I would be able to generate an active patent writing/prosecuting business as a patent agent?
Thanks very much for your time!!!
Larry Bell
Answer Larry:
The best way to get there from here is to get that JD and do patent law. If you can adopt a 6 year window, you should be able to do what you mean to do. Here's
my thinking:
3 years in law school getting the JD. The demand for patent lawyers is so relatively high right now, that
you may can find someone to pay your way through (with a PhD it'd be pretty sure) with passage of the patent bar.
The second 3 years would be working at a law firm.
Patents are just too complicated to do with only the patent bar and no training under your belt. I passed the patent bar, but I don't prosecute (only litigate) despite 15 years law experience because it's a quirky field.
Right now if you have a JD, if you are willing to help smaller clients, if you passed the patent bar, and if you know what you're doing, you absolutely can originate patent work, either with your own clients, or as contract labor for other attorneys.
To answer your question more directly, I suspect that you will need to work at a patent firm even as a patent agent,
after which time I'll bet you could do contract labor for patent firms on a very independent basis. I would still do the JD. I think that client work without a JD as a patent agent on an "indie" basis is more dicey, but I'll bet somebody out there is doing it.
But I really think you need on the job training, at least 3 years in a law firm as a patent agent, and ideally another 3 in law school (you'll just do better as a lawyer financially, and you have great IP schools in N CA), to really thrive.
