Yet, as mentioned above, other than for patent prosecution, nothing other than a law degree is required to practice in any area of law. In fact, lawyers filling environmental or other non-patent positions that involve technical issues are unlikely to have formal technical training. So, the key consideration in finding a job in most law-technology areas is not whether you have a technical background but whether you have the skills and attitude hiring lawyers are looking for. That aside, lawyers with technical training are scarce. Each year, about 40,000 law students graduate, but the total number of active patent attorneys, most of whom are technically trained, is perhaps 20,000.
Patent law is a field with considerable demand.
This translates into comparatively high salaries for those with good legal training and technical training relevant to important areas of technological growth. Thus, many technically trained lawyers do intellectual property work because it is interesting, because they tend not to enjoy special advantages in other areas with both technical and legal components, and because potential earnings are very attractive. The Golden, Global Age of Intellectual Property Law Intellectual property law includes perfecting, protecting and transferring patents, copyrights, trade secrets and trademarks. Intellectual property rights are critical to continued investments in research and development, and, hence, the competitiveness of U.S. industry in domestic and world markets. As in the situation, for example, of those who invest in real estate development, or oil and gas exploration, if companies that discover new technology and bring it to market, often at great expense, could not profit from their efforts, they would soon be out of business.