This article is
written for law students and trainee solicitors searching for specialized legal
jobs, to give you a flavor for intellectual property law. It will try to give
you a very general insight into an exciting and demanding area of law, and the
employment prospects and legal jobs within this sector.
Intellectual property
law covers the full range of technology and the arts, from records to computer
software. Intellectual property law is the area of the law that includes patent
law, copyright law and trademark law, together with some aspects of other
branches of the law, such as licensing and unfair competition.
Recent times have
witnessed an explosion in the field of intellectual property and solicitor jobs
in this area. Even when other markets for the services of legal practices are
affected by recession, the demand for intellectual property solicitor jobs
typically remains high. As long as people invent or create, there is a need for
intellectual property lawyers to protect and enforce intellectual property
rights.
There are certain
areas of the country which have a higher concentration of firms working within
Intellectual Property. Any area with a high volume of technology firms or companies
in the pharmaceutical sector tends to have legal practices supporting the IP
function.
The Thames valley
area around Oxford and Reading, Cambridge and London are all hot beds for
Intellectual Property law. The practice is a people-oriented profession. The
solicitor works with a wide range of clients, from small-business owners to top
management officials of large corporations.
For many businesses,
obtaining intellectual property protection is a critical step in an integrated
business activity. The timing of the grant of protection affects a company's
marketing, sales, personnel practices, and research and development efforts.
The process of obtaining protection brings the solicitor into close working
contact with professionals in many business areas.
Intellectual property
law provides a unique opportunity to utilize a degree or prior professional
experience with the practice of law. In fact those individuals combining a
background within medicine, chemistry or technology with the law are highly
sought after.
Many companies hire
intellectual property lawyers as in-house counsel. These lawyers develop an
expertise in the technology of their corporations, and are often closely
involved in business decisions relating to the protection of intellectual
property and other related matters. This can provide the solicitor with a
greater feeling of contribution to the business and greater satisfaction in
watching their function have an effect on its overall success.
Many legal firms
throughout the United Kingdom have become niche specialists in intellectual
property law. Also large general practice firms will tend to have law
departments. Working within Private Practice will often give a Solicitor a
wider variety of work and this can be both contentious and non-contentious in
nature.
The overall workload
can be greater in private practice and billing targets have to be met so this
route can be quite demanding.
There are a number of
different paths open to intellectual property solicitors and allows each person
to choose a practice best suited to that person's overall objectives.
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