I am an experienced electrical engineer who graduated from law school in May. I sat for the New York bar and am now seeking a patent prosecution or patent litigation position in New York City.

I am registered as a patent agent; enjoyed a number of patent and intellectual property courses; participated in IP moot court; and wrote a seminar paper on patent law that was awarded a cash prize by an IP society. I also interned for a federal district court judge, where I worked on a patent case and a trademark case. (I had a B+ average in law school, and served on my law school's tax journal, which has selected my student note for publication.)

If you know any patent lawyers, please help me network. Even if you only know lawyers who work in other areas of law, they may know patent lawyers.

My impression was that patent law was one of the most lucrative and prestigious, but also one of the most difficult fields to enter, as no one wants to train an employee from the ground up, and then lose him in a year.

Most Jews in Brooklyn are whether in kollel, already in a federal kollel, or are still lawyers. I mean, like 30% of the men in every shul here are lawyers! Have you tried asking the rabbi? They all see it as extremely important to know right away "what you do" upon seeing a new face.

I think every field is difficult to enter: you can't get the job without experience, but without a job, you can never obtain that experience.

As far as training an employee and then losing him, that doesn't have to happen, if employers would treat people decently.


Yes they do, and then they later lecture that when a Yid is asked what he does, he should answer, "I am a Jew," because it is not our careers that define us.

If they invest in training you, they want return on their investment, as a patent newbie isn't very profitable to hire. But then in a year or so, when they give over to you some of their expertise, and you actually begin making money for them, you will leave them for the extra $30K that you can get elsewhere.

But seriously, shuls are are overcrowded with lawyers here, who can help. Talk to the rabbi, and then another one.

That's actually a good one. This has been bothering me for a while. I've been trying different answers, from honestly answering, to just replying "baruch hashem" to the same obnoxious question that they try to approach from different angles, a dozen times in a row until they got the hint, to starting to question their own means and that of their families until they ran, and so on. Of course, they never talk to you again after that, which may be a good thing, because who wants to associate with robots, preprogrammed machines, who follow the same routine, and who rather die than take a peek out of their little, narrow, smelly box?

Just curious--why did you decide to go for a law degree if you were already an e.e.? Is it hard to find work as an engineer?

1) Companies that may have 50 engineering offices around the country may only have electrical engineers in one or two of those offices, typically in non-Jewish towns.
2) Companies were telling me they didn't need my services, then telling Congress that they couldn't find any American engineers, and asking Congress to let them bring in engineers from India. [Who would coincidentally be happy to work for $5/hour.]
3) I was doing consulting work for environmental engineering companies, that worked for municipalities and were given credit for outsourcing work to minorities, so they looked for consultants who were Hispanic or female. I was a Caucasian male, so I was underemployed and living in a 1-bedroom apartment, while the "economically disadvantaged" Hispanic electrical engineer in my town who was living in a million dollar house with a water view kept getting more and more work.
4) I got tired of telling my shidduch dates that I was an engineer and having them ask me if I enjoyed driving trains.
5) If you do anything long enough, you may get bored and want to try something else.
6) Jewish men are supposed to be doctors or lawyers, and I don't like blood.
7) I helped someone get out of prison, and lawyers who saw my work told me that I should go to law school.
8) I learned to love the law.

I'm working with one of the best in a Federal suit right now. Albeit he's from Virginia, he has a very low bar number and may have contacts in NY. Resume?

Resume what?

By the way, if you'd like a c.v./résumé, send me a PM and I'll give you a link.

Tushie.

[I have nothing to contribute to the discussion, but do wish you much hatzlachah].