What does a patent paralegal do?
Patent administration is one of the most interesting and best remunerated areas of legal administration. Qualified patent paralegals (also called patent specialists or patent secretaries) are in high demand. A patent paralegal works with one or more patent attorneys or agents, and handles all the administrative work involved in the long and complex process of patenting inventions, either at a law firm or within the patent department of a corporation or university. This usually involves a lot of correspondence between the patent attorney and the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). Much of the correspondence takes the form of legal documents, drafted and filed in accordance with Federal patent rules. It’s a profession that requires intelligence, initiative and good organizational skills. Regular paralegals cannot do this work. It’s a specialty of its own that requires a considerable degree of training. There’s a lot to learn, but experienced patent paralegals are often given a great deal of responsibility for day-to-day patent matters, and with that comes a commensurate degree of respect and financial reward.
How can I become a patent paralegal?
There is a huge demand for people with patent paralegal skills, but amazingly enough, no standardized college credential is (yet) required or expected. This may change in the near future. Many patent paralegals enter the field from general secretarial or administrative work, often, but not always, in a law firm. Almost all traditional training has been done as an informal apprenticeship, with the trainee receiving instruction from a senior paralegal or an attorney. A few sporadic live seminars have sprung up around the country, but because of the complexity of the subject matter, these seminars have either been very long, requiring live attendance after work and on weekends, or they provide no more than a short review for experienced patent paralegals. No previous course has provided a convenient but thorough step-by-step guide to US and foreign patent administration, until now. Most importantly, the IPlegalED course teaches you to understand patent procedures, not just how to fill out forms.