3/3/07

IP Law School Rankings

Current IP rankings from US News:Law Specialties: Intellectual Property Law Ranked in 2004*

  1. University of California–Berkeley
  2. George Washington University (DC)
  3. Stanford University (CA)
  4. Duke University (NC)
  5. New York University
  6. Cardozo-Yeshiva University (NY)
  7. Franklin Pierce Law Center (NH)
  8. Columbia University (NY)
  9. DePaul University (IL) & University of Houston
  10. Boston University
  11. John Marshall Law School (IL)
  12. Santa Clara University (CA)
  13. Georgetown University (DC)
  14. Illinois Institute of Technology (Chicago-Kent)
  15. University of Washington
  16. Harvard University (MA)
  17. University of Minnesota–Twin Cities
  18. Case Western Reserve University (OH) & University of California–Los Angeles
  19. Fordham University (NY)
  20. Boston College & George Mason University (VA) & University of Texas–Austin & Washington University in St. Louis & Yale University (CT)
  21. American University (Washington College of Law) (DC) & University of Pennsylvania
Actual rankings are slightly different as equally ranked schools bump others down, couldn't get the numbering right in the HTML. American University, etc. are actually 27th. Red = Applied in 2006 cycle.

Of course, there are those who believe that you should go to the best law school that takes you and forget about ratings. This site was written by an IP recruiter who is part of this crowd. I'm inclined to go with this plan, as having a portable, nationally recognized degree is what is most important to me. I have no idea where I'll be living after law school and I need a degree which will go with me anywhere.

Things that enhance chances of getting a good IP job: good technical background, good law school, and passing the patent bar. So in order to improve my chances at this point I can actually change items two and three. Working to get into a good school involves practicing for LSAT. I will be retaking the LSAT in June. After that I plan on spending the rest of my summer studying for and taking the USPTO exam (patent bar). It will be better to have this under my belt before law school than during school. I don't think I'll have extra time to study for this during law school, so having it out of the way will only be an advantage to me when trying to get the all important "first-job" out of school. Anybody have advice on how to prepare for the patent bar?
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