Summer associate positions and law clerk positions are available now for qualified law students who are interested in a career in IP law. A bachelor's degree in a technical field that qualifies you to sit for the USPTO registration examination is required, as is enrollment in an ABA-accredited law school.
As a summer associate or law clerk at HPTB, you can expect to become involved in nearly all of the activities identified above for first-year attorneys. Little of our work involves generic research and writing projects; typically our summer associates and law clerks work on substantive client matters during their entire period of employment with us, in the same way that attorneys do. A typical summer or school-year engagement might include meeting with inventors under the supervision of an attorney, writing several Office Action responses, one or two patent applications, etc.
Summer associates and law clerks can expect to participate in the development and educational activities identified above, excluding associate development funding. We also offer an enjoyable, firm-funded entertainment program oriented toward assisting you in getting to know all attorneys in our firm and learning whether HPTB is the right place to begin your full time career.
We are a single-department firm, so summer associates and law clerks spend all their time with us working on intellectual property matters. Split summers are permitted by advance arrangement.
HPTB does not hire 1L law students for summer positions and does not reply to emails or letters from 1Ls inquiring about positions. No telephone calls from law students inquiring about positions, please.
Due to the large number of submissions we receive, we may not acknowledge or reply to emails or letters from 2L or 3L law students who do not have an appropriate technical background (BSCS, BSEE, BSCE, BS Physics, and/or substantial familiarity or job experience with software engineering, software development, electrical engineering, or computer engineering) or who do not otherwise meet our hiring criteria as described in this site. We do not have a life sciences or chemical practice and do not consider students who have backgrounds in biology, chemistry, biotech, or chemical engineering
For students who do meet our hiring criteria, we normally communicate interest within one to four weeks. We normally select and hire all summer associates between August 1 and November 30 of the year preceding employment; submissions outside this time window may not be acknowledged. Please do not send privileged or confidential information in writing samples.
For further information, contact Christopher J. Palermo (Partner, Campus Recruiting Coordinator), HPTB, 2055 Gateway Pl Ste 550, San Jose, CA 9511, Fax: (408) 414-1076, or by email. No phone calls, please.
