career in IP after working in the USA

Dear all,

I have worked in R&D for a big company for 4 years and I am considering a career change to IP attorney. My questions to ppl are the following:

1. how important is school ranking?

2. has anyone done this career change and any advice/perspective on choosing school and area of specialization?

3. any decent school with night or part-time program on the east coast?

Thanks!

1. school ranking is always important. Remember, lawyer is not an engineering job. you have to deal with customers. Customers are picky. They want the best. Even though, any top 30 schools will get you a job, T-14 is still the best.

2. you only need to worry about picking schools when you cannot get into top 30 schools. If you can make to the top schools, pick the highest ranked school.

3. in terms of night/part-time schools, I doubt there will be any decent ones.

I went a seminar two years ago. The IP lawyer who talked in the seminar went to New York University School of Law.  Very decent school.(no disputes there.  :-)  ) Fordham has part-time program too.

I don't think BU, BC or Harvard have partime program. You can double check. Suffolk has evening program, but not top schools at all. It is still OK in Boston though.

I think you can try to transfer to patent department of your company. And maybe they will cover your tuition.

Dear all,

Thanks for your kind input.

Since I am in the great NY area and Fordham was mentioned a few times here and elsewhere, I am curious about this school, especially IP area. There are others, e.g. Pace University at White Plains, offering  night or part-time program. But I cannot see Pace in the ranking list. Any comments?

since you are in NYC, it is for your best interest to talk to a lawyer in biglaw first. Apparently, you have not talked to any of them. it will clear out the picture in 20 min.