Patent lawyers are in such demand that their specialty may account for more than 15 percent of law firm job openings while representing just 3 percent of lawyers in the United States.
Such lawyers typically have degrees in fields like engineering as well as law. Some law firms are now almost doubling recruitment fees to meet the growing demand for specialists in intellectual property, or I.P., particularly in technology, said T. J. Duane, a principal at a legal recruitment firm, Lateral Link.
“There is a boom in I.P., with many openings in what is usually a niche practice,” Mr. Duane said.
The demand can be attributed in part to the America Invents Act, the biggest overhaul in the United States patent system in six decades. The legislation, which changes how patents are processed and reviewed, is spurring a race among law firms for star talent in a small pool of patent lawyers.
More than 230 positions are open for patent lawyers among the more than 1,400 nationwide for all lawyers, with a majority in the San Francisco Bay area, home to Silicon Valley, Mr. Duane said. About 60 posts have been open since July. An additional 25 were added last month, he said.
“The quantity of qualified attorneys who can perform this work is limited,” Mr. Duane said.
Lateral hires among law firms are on the rise after two years of decline. They jumped 38 percent last year after plummeting 52 percent from 2008 to 2009, according to a report by the National Association of Law Placement.
Hiring among law school graduates continues to weaken as large law firms fill fewer positions. The employment rate among American law school graduates fell 4.7 percent last year, the association said.
About 40,000 patent lawyers and agents are registered with the United States Patent and Trademark Office, having passed a separate patent bar examination, according to the office.
While patent agents have taken the patent exam, they are not lawyers who have taken state bar tests, the patent office said on its Web site.
Agents may prepare patent applications and conduct cases before the patent office, though they are not permitted to litigate in court or draw up contracts.
“These are hard people to find,” said Barton E. Showalter, chairman of the intellectual property department at Baker Botts in Dallas.
About 1.2 million lawyers are licensed in the country, according to the American Bar Association.
The patent act, the culmination of more than a decade of negotiations and lobbying, is putting a high premium on the best patent lawyers, Mr. Showalter said.
“It’s an exceedingly complex law now with a number of new procedures,” he said. “That puts a premium on highly technical-skilled patent lawyers.”
Law firms are also being pressured by technology clients that have expanded into new growth areas like cloud computing, said Mark J. Itri, the leader of the intellectual property practice group at McDermott Will Emery.
Some companies have also consolidated the number of patent lawyers they work with to cut costs, Mr. Itri said. “Near term, you’ll see a big demand to hire to meet some of those client needs,” he said.
Mr. Itri’s firm has hired 28 patent lawyers and patent agents this year, adding roughly a dozen last month alone, as it seeks to expand its patent prosecution practice. The firm plans to hire an additional 20 by next spring, he said.
The most highly sought degrees held by patent lawyers are in electrical engineering, computer science and computer engineering, Mr. Duane said.
The ideal candidate would hold a doctoral degree in electrical engineering, have graduated from a top 10 law school and have worked for four years at a strong law firm, Mr. Duane said.
“That person could get a job anywhere,” he said.
If the talent is not available, Mr. Duane said, “some firms may end up closing their positions or repurposing the general practice attorneys to focus on the nontechnical sides of these complex cases.”
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