Do patent attorneys have a good work/life balance?

You get through your STEM degree…

You get through law school…

Only to be working 80 hour weeks, on call 24/7 and wondering if you’ll ever escape!

Is this the trap you’re walking into if you choose the patent law path?

The short answer: it depends. Just like with all law jobs, you can find positions at both ends of the work/life balance spectrum.

But I’ve found that patent law is one of the better legal fields to be in for two main reasons:

1. Reasonable deadlines

   Most patent work has deadlines that are months away. For example, an office action in the US has a 3-month response deadline. Less last-minute work helps avoid unplanned overtime.

    

   Sometimes delays happen for reasons that are out of your control. This can lead to rushed work to meet a deadline, but usually your other work is flexible and can accommodate it.

    

2. Less typical “lawyer” types

   I’ve found there are less bosses who fit the typical “lawyer” stereotype. The sort of people who like the cut-throat environment, want you to suffer as a junior, and tend to overwhelm you with work.

    

   In my experience, patent lawyers are scientists or engineers who just happened to become lawyers. They’re more logical, rational, and (in general) cognicent of your workload and capacity.

    

Personally, my job is very 9-5 with occasional overtime (while still making a pretty good salary). But, it has taken me a few years to get here. When I started as a student, I was working a LOT. It took me some time to get faster at the work I’m doing, waste less time, and have better work boundaries.

In other words, a big part of it is what you make of it — how you manage your time, what work you agree to take on, and how you manage others’ expectations.

Patents have a very particular formatting and writing style, so let’s take a look at each part to make better sense of how to read and interpret them. Starting with the front page!

Here is the front page of a US patent. Other jurisdictions will look slightly different, but contain mostly the same important info:

The front page is useful for getting basic info like what is indicated above. The Abstract and figure can help you get a quick sense for what the patent is about without reading through the whole document. The application and patent numbers help identify the patent (these are the numbers you would look up or provide to someone else). For some work, the date, inventor, or owner can also be very important (e.g., infringement or freedom to operate).

Thanks for reading this issue of The Patent Pivot! If you have any questions or comments, I would love to hear from you. See you next week! 💌