Intellectual property law is increasingly complex. This is due to rapid
advancements in fields such as communications, pharmaceuticals, electronics
and biotechnology. As a result, intellectual property (IP) lawyers need a
solid technical background, especially if they do patent law.
"It's an interesting area because there's been a big transition in the
last eight to 10 years to more specialists," says IP lawyer Darryl Bilodeau.
"Originally, to get into patent law, anyone with an undergraduate degree in
science or technology, that was enough. Today you are at a significant disadvantage
without a graduate degree in a science, engineering or biotech field."
Bilodeau works at a small firm that handles trademarks, copyright, licensing
and other IP and business law matters. His undergraduate degree was in electrical
engineering, but he found a tough job market that encouraged him to return
to school to earn his law degree and become an IP lawyer.
"It was quite an adjustment, especially the first year,"
says Bilodeau. "I don't think I did as much reading in four years of engineering
as I did in that first term (of law school)."
Bilodeau is glad he made the switch. Now he can use his engineering knowledge
to help his legal clients.
One rewarding part of IP law is that it's a challenging and rewarding area
of law.
"Another thing that's kind of appealing about this area is that generally
the hours are more balanced compared to some other practice areas," says Bilodeau.
"They're not as hectic as some [other types of lawyers] who really end up
doing the sunrise to sunset [schedule], and they still run out of time."
Catherine Lemay is an IP lawyer who assists companies with the drafting
and protection of their pharmaceutical, biochemical and chemical patent applications.
It was during her undergraduate studies in chemistry that Lemay decided to
go into IP law. Now she works in a private law firm. Before that, she was
an in-house lawyer for a pharmaceutical company. She had the chance to interact
a lot with the inventors of new drugs.
"It was quite rewarding to be engaging with some of these inventors that
have invented, for example, new molecules that could... treat some rare form
of leukemia or whatever," says Lemay. "It's not only that we support them
in filing patent applications and getting their inventions protected, but
we're also exposed to some of the results that they get and some... of these
projects actually make it to commercialized products.
"To interact with the inventors and to see how excited they are that they
got this great new invention that might potentially save lives or help others
is certainly rewarding."
Kenan Farrell did his undergraduate degree in genetics. He made the decision
to focus on IP law when he was already in law school. Farrell now helps mostly
non-scientific types to protect their creative works. He specializes in assisting
creative professionals.
"I wanted to work with artists, musicians -- really just creative professionals
in general," says Farrell. "Most of the assets of those types of folks --
creative businesses -- are their intellectual property, so figuring out how
to help clients protect, enforce and make money off of their creations --
I enjoy that aspect of it.
"People are all the time coming to me with new innovations, or a new song,
or a new something that they've created and they're very excited about their
idea or project," Farrell adds. "So that's nice."
There are certain qualities that Farrell believes are helpful for an IP
lawyer to have.
"I think being inquisitive," says Farrell. "It helps if you're creative
yourself because that's who you're dealing with quite a bit."
Going to law school is just the beginning of your education if you decide
to become an IP lawyer.
"Intellectual property law is constantly developing, particularly now that
the Internet's involved," says Farrell. "You always have to be keeping yourself
up to date, and seeing the developments as they occur.
"Along with that, you also have to be someone who likes to educate, because
a lot of these concepts won't make sense right away to your clients," Farrell
adds. "So you have to be willing to spend a little bit of extra time and let
them know why they need to be considering their intellectual property, or
helping them understand the true value that their IP has."
Farrell expects there to be continued demand for IP lawyers, especially
in the area of patent law.
"If there are folks who are interested in science or engineering, every
big company and small inventors all over the world are constantly patenting
ideas," says Farrell. "You'd think that would slow down but innovation drives
innovation, because everybody has a broader palette to work from. So in that
there's definitely opportunity."