Patent Litigation Associate

Work Experience

• Substantive patent litigation experience at a strong law firm

Education

• J.D. from T1-T50 or strong national law school
• STEM degree; CS/EE preferred

Hard Skills

• Strong legal writing

Location

• Local to or willing to relocate to target office

Baseline

Seniority

• 2–6 years of patent litigation experience (Classes 2020–2024)

Experience

• District court, ITC, or PTAB patent litigation
• Claim construction, discovery, and motion practice

Education

• Strong law school grades

Technical

• Deep technical fluency in CS, EE, or life sciences

Soft Skills

• Self-directed; thrives with minimal supervision
• Entrepreneurial; comfortable with free-market staffing

Bar

• Active or waivable bar admission in target state

Nice-to-Have

Experience

• Trial team or deposition experience
• Pharma/Hatch-Waxman litigation

Education 

• Advanced STEM degree (M.S. or Ph.D.)

Credentials

• USPTO registration

Advocacy

• Strong oral advocacy/trial presence

Traits to avoid

• Needs heavy structure, central staffing, or mentorship
• Demands full remote or work-from-anywhere arrangement
• Prosecution-only background with no litigation experience

Salary

• $225K - $435K

Law Schools — T50 / Strong Patent Pipeline

T1–T15

Stanford | Yale | University of Chicago | Penn Carey | University of Virginia | Harvard | Duke | NYU | Columbia | Northwestern | University of Michigan | Vanderbilt | Cornell | UCLA | Washington University in St. Louis

T16–T30

UC Berkeley | University of Texas at Austin | Georgetown | UNC–Chapel Hill | Boston College | Notre Dame | Texas A&M | University of Minnesota | Boston University | BYU | George Washington | University of Georgia | USC Gould | University of Wisconsin–Madison | Ohio State | Wake Forest

T31–T50

George Mason (Scalia) | University of Iowa | Baylor | Florida State | UC Irvine | University of Florida | Washington and Lee | William & Mary | Emory | University of Alabama | Fordham | SMU | Arizona State | University of Utah | Pepperdine | University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign | University of Kansas | Indiana University Bloomington | Temple | Villanova

BigLaw + Elite Patent Litigation Firms

Highest-priority patent litigation targets:
Fish & Richardson, Finnegan, Kirkland & Ellis, Morrison Foerster, Cooley, WilmerHale, Latham & Watkins, Irell & Manella, Wilson Sonsini, Gibson Dunn, Sidley Austin, Jones Day, Perkins Coie, Baker Botts, Covington & Burling, Arnold & Porter, Paul Weiss, Skadden, Ropes & Gray, Goodwin, Orrick, Fenwick & West, Hogan Lovells, DLA Piper, Mayer Brown, McDermott Will & Schulte, Morgan Lewis, Reed Smith, Winston & Strawn, Weil Gotshal, White & Case, A&O Shearman, King & Spalding, Alston & Bird, Kilpatrick Townsend, Foley & Lardner, Troutman Pepper Locke, Mintz, Sterne Kessler, Knobbe Martens.

Elite Patent/IP Boutiques:

Desmarais, McKool Smith, Keker Van Nest & Peters, Wolf Greenfield, Banner Witcoff, Susman Godfrey, Hueston Hennigan, Reichman Jorgensen, Durie Tangri, Tensegrity Law Group.

Candidate Note: If you currently practice patent litigation at a top-tier BigLaw firm or elite IP/patent litigation boutique, please feel free to apply even if your law school falls outside the preferred T1-T50 range. Candidates with exceptional firm pedigree, substantive patent litigation experience, strong academic credentials, and a relevant STEM background will receive full consideration.

Location

San Francisco, CA, Silicon Valley, CA