Are there any Patent Attorneys on here?

[patentattorney]

I'm a Life Sciences graduate and I am thinking of applying to some trainee PA positions. I don't know any PAs to ask so hoping there may be some of you on Mumsnet.

If you are a PA, I would love to hear how you find your job and what experience did you have when you started as a trainee? Also what kind of qualities and experience are employers looking for in trainee applicants?

Thank you

Hello! I’m a patent attorney. Although I’m in-house and moved across from R&D rather than having applied for training positions with private practice firms.

My undergrad is in chemistry, my PhD is in biochemistry and I’d done an academic postdoc before moving into industry and working as a research scientist for a couple of years.

I genuinely love my job most of the time. It’s always interesting and quite varied. As I’m in-house I don’t specialise in any particular area. So I end up handling anything related to my portfolio - I’ve got biotech cases, chemistry cases, mechanical cases, packaging cases, formulation cases. This is quite unusual and doesn’t tend to happen in private practice.

Be aware that all the professional exams are in a period of flux. They’ve moved online because of covid, but there format and structure is currently under review. Which means it’s very difficult to provide concrete advice on the qualification process at the moment (although I’m sure the exams will remain challenging).

With regard to qualities necessary for the job, the main ones are attention to detail and the ability to be extremely organised. You have to like reading because you will be doing it a lot. The ability to write persuasively is also important. As you progress, you’ll also need to be able to present arguments orally (hearings still happen - currently they’re via videoconference rather than in person).