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What raises your value

• A hard technical specialty

  Electrical engineering, semiconductors, molecular biology and chemistry are the areas firms struggle most to staff.

• A graduate science degree

  A master's or doctorate is close to standard for biotechnology and pharmaceutical patent work, and it commands a premium.

• Patent examiner experience

  Time at the Patent and Trademark Office teaches you how examiners actually think, and firms hire former examiners readily.

• A second language

  Japanese, German, Korean and Mandarin, for the foreign filings that dominate the patent system.

• Litigation experience

  Patent trials are fought in federal court with enormous sums at stake, and trial-capable patent lawyers are rare.