Patent attorney recruitment is a function of legal market trends. The practice of intellectual property law has experienced a boom in the 21st century that is a result of technological advances and the increasing popularity of the Internet as a means of global communication. Attorneys with the legal and technical skills to prosecute and defend patents are in high demand worldwide. Recruitment of these individuals depends on the jurisdiction involved but tends to involve the assessment of the attorney's knowledge of the scientific or technical field in which he will be working, his attainment of practicing credentials and any relevant prior experience.
Each country has its own methods for training and qualifying patent attorneys that ultimately drives patent attorney recruitment. In the UK, for example, patent attorneys are qualified and credentialed through a special training program that is separate from general legal education. Patent trainees take qualifying exams to receive a license to practice patent law but cannot practice any other type of law.
In the US, attorneys who wish to become patent attorneys must first go to law school and obtain a general legal education. They obtain a general license to practice law that includes the right to operate in the patent arena. If they want the ability to present patent applications to the government, they must take a special patent bar exam to gain an additional credential.
Recruiting patent attorneys is different in every jurisdiction. In locations that follow the UK training model, patent attorneys who have completed qualifying exams and have the appropriate credentials to practice are in high demand. Ordinarily, patent trainees are recruited by a patent firm under a training contract. They work in this capacity until they pass the qualifying exams and receive their credentials, and then transition into a permanent patent attorney position within that same firm. With increased demand, firms are less inclined to train and more inclined to hire laterally, looking for candidates who want to change jobs in the one to three year period after qualifying but before going up for partner at their training firm.
In jurisdictions modeled after the US, patent attorney recruitment is initially integrated into the law school job placement process. Firms recruit candidates out of school by looking for people who have an interest in patent law and the educational background in a science or technical field that will enable them to understand the inventions involved. These firms also recruit patent attorneys as lateral hires, poaching them from other law firms or recruiting them from the government patent office.
There are also boutique employment firms in most jurisdictions that many firms use to find candidates. These agencies specialize in patent attorney recruitment and placement and often concentrate on this position exclusively. The demand for this technical type of legal practitioner means that there is a high degree of mobility in the industry for licensed and credentialed patent attorneys who have between one and five years of experience.