A member of a specialised legal profession qualified to write, obtain and advise clients about patents. A patent is a monopoly granted for a new scientific invention, relating to anything from computers and electronics to useful gene sequences.

Patent Attorneys often advise clients about other intellectual property rights: trade marks, designs and copyright.

What Do You Need To Be A Patent Attorney?

• A good science or engineering degree and broad-based interest in science and technology - have you ever taken something apart to see how it works?
• Excellent communications skills, especially in writing - see the "Interactive example of describing a light bulb" example below.
• Good people skills to deal with clients and explain complex technical ideas and legal advice to them.
• The ability to work to tight deadlines and to handle several projects simultaneously.
• Commercial sense.
• Some basic foreign language skills (especially French, German, Japanese and Chinese) are helpful.

Don't Bother If...

• You can't string three words together.
• You find it difficult to deal with detail as well as seeing the big picture.
• You don't want a pressured job.

The Job

Patent Attorneys work in firms (just like solicitors) or are employed "in-house" by companies.

The training usually takes four to five years and requires the trainee to pass three sets of exams to qualify as a UK Patent Attorney and a European Patent Attorney. The exams are hard and pass rates are low. The number of jobs in the field is small and there is strong competition for training places.

The clients who want patents might be individual inventors, universities, start-up companies, large companies or attorneys from abroad. A good Patent Attorney needs to be adaptable to deal with these different clients and be quick to learn new technologies.

Best Bits

• Variety of work.
• Intellectually stimulating work.
• Very financially rewarding, especially when qualified.
• A job that enables you to use your science and not be stuck at the lab bench.

Worst Bits

• Stiff competition for jobs.
• Tough exams to pass.
• Long hours on occasion.
• Constant deadlines set by clients and patent offices.

Interactive Example Of Defining A Light Bulb

Consider the invention of the light bulb

Can you write a single sentence ("a claim") that defines the essential features of an electric light bulb in such a way that the sentence does not include candles or a gas lamp or a glowing wire (the "prior art" in patent speak)?

Start by thinking what makes the light bulb different from the "prior art" devices.

What features of the light bulb reflect these essential differences?

Can you write a sentence that links together these features in a broad and general way?

Click below to see examples of answers. From these answers, you will see that there is more than one way of writing a claim to an invention but that the answers all include broadly similar features.

>Click here to view examples

This idea of reducing an invention to its essential features and writing a broad and clear definition of it is one of the central skills in being a Patent Attorney. Applicants for jobs as trainee Patent Attorneys are likely to be tested for evidence of this type of skill.

Practise defining objects to see whether you can do this and enjoy the challenge.