Demand is high, supply is low in intellectual property field…
By June Arney

Robert A. Spar, a partner at Saul Ewing Law Firm, is committed to helping his law firm increase its stable of patent attorneys.  That means invoking headhunters, placing ads in Philadelphia and Washington publications and sending a five-member team to scout at Bio, an international trade convention recently held in Boston.

He’d like to find enough attorneys to double the firm’s life science practice, which now employs 35.  Good luck!  Competition is fierce, because legal offices across the country are trying to do the same thing.  “It’s really hard to find patent lawyers in the Baltimore area,” Spar said. “We’re constantly looking. Whenever we can find a good, qualified person, we’re going to bring them in.”  DUI Attorney.

There are multiple reasons for the high demand and scant supply of attorneys schooled in the intricacies of patent law, and they are rooted in an explosion in the number of applications and patents issued over two decades.

Applications have more than tripled in that time, to more than 440,600 last year, with about 184,300 patents being issued, according to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

Meanwhile, about 3 percent of the nation’s 1.12 million active lawyers specialize in the demanding field, which requires scientific or technical expertise in addition to a law degree. Patent lawyers also must pass a specialized test on top of the regular bar exam. Maryland has about 237 intellectual property lawyers, according to the state bar association.

As a result, lawyers with such training are a precious commodity in a world where intellectual property has never been more important and can mean a company’s survival.

“This is a high stakes game,” said San Francisco-based recruiter Avis Caravello.  “The IP rights of a company really are the heart and soul of a company. A loss could be astronomical. The level of talent that’s required to protect those rights is very high,” Caravello said.

But the demand for patent lawyers vastly outweighs the supply, she said.  “If I had the right ones, I could place as many as there were hours in the day,” said Caravello, a lawyer and principal at the search consultant firm that bears her name. “When I get a candidate like that, it really is ‘Where do you want to work?’”

IP attorney Robert S. Collins, 38, had no trouble finding a job in Baltimore when he and his attorney wife wanted to move back east after a few years in Chicago. There he worked at two firms, ending up at a technology boutique where he negotiated technology transactions, including such things as outsourcing deals. He also worked with early-stage companies seeking to develop, commercialize and protect technology and intellectual property.

An encounter at a holiday party in Chicago prompted his initial inquiry to Whiteford, Taylor & Preston, where the Bethesda native is now a partner.  “I just called them, and they were looking for technology lawyers,” he said. “They had a sophisticated technology program. They wanted to build on the early-stage entrepreneurial part of it.”

Conversations led to an interview. “By the end of the interview, they could see how good the fit was and how important it was to their strategic plan,” Collins said. “They immediately went into selling mode.”

Saul Ewing is looking for IP lawyers to meet the demand it anticipates in Baltimore, which is slated to have three biotechnology parks operating within about a five-mile radius, Spar noted.

“In three years, we view that this will be the hot industry in Baltimore,” he said. “We’re really gearing up to be the big player.”