With the Massachusetts economy based on knowledge, the state has become home to some of the nation’s largest IP law firms, supported by growing numbers of technology specialists and attorneys with advanced degrees in science. The ability to practice business law successfully in Massachusetts now often relies on an attorney’s knowledge of molecular science, physics, or biology, which explains the past decade’s trend of students with advanced degrees in chemical engineering or molecular biology being recruited by law firms and heading to law school. “Many IP law firms like to have technologists onboard to provide real-world insights into technology,” says Dan Young, a patent agent with Boston’s Wolf Greenfield & Sacks PC, which is one of the largest IP law firms in the Northeast. “So our firm, like many others, recruits scientists directly out of grad school or industry to work on project teams as a scientific adviser. That role often enables them to evolve into a patent attorney, going to law school at night, paid for by the firm.”
Nathan Edwards, an associate at Finnegan, Henderson, Farabow, Garrett & Dunner LLP in Cambridge — and a Harvard University graduate with a PhD in biology — says a technical background provides valuable, tangible advantages to his firm and its practice of law. “Our technologists enable our attorneys to jump into a case without the factual underpinnings of the case getting in the way,” he says. All agree that the speed of technological innovation is driving the law, as the courts struggle with issues for which there is no precedent, affected by laws decades old. “Everyone’s screaming about patent reform these days,” says Leigh Martinson, a partner at McDermott Will & Emery. “That’s a result of the law not keeping up with how fast technology is moving, so you’re hearing about patent reform in every Congressional session now. You’re seeing the courts taking matters into their own hands now, too. You’re seeing changes in how damages are calculated and what reasonable royalties are. If anything, changes in technology are driving changes in the law.”
Source: Mass High Tech Business News