Our Tech Spec Program
Our Technology Specialist Program
Our technology specialists (“tech specs”) are recent graduates from bachelors, masters, and Ph.D. programs, as well as engineers and scientists who have worked in academia and/or industry. They bring to the firm a wealth of science and engineering experience from their academic and industry careers. Collectively, our tech specs have experience in a diverse range of fields including biology, medicine, chemistry and chemical engineering, computer science, electrical engineering, physics and mechanical engineering.
We take a common sense approach to recruitment in intellectual property law. Rather than trying to teach a lawyer to think like an engineer or a scientist, we train engineers and scientists to think like lawyers.
In 1988, we established the first tech spec program in New England to provide scientists and engineers the opportunity to pursue a career in intellectual property law. Since then, dozens of tech specs have been through our program. Currently, about one-third of our shareholders (including our President and Managing Partner) and one-half of our associates began their legal careers as tech specs at Wolf Greenfield.
What You Will Do Here
From your first days at the firm as a tech spec, you will work directly with our attorneys and clients on important projects, drawing on your technical expertise to tackle legal issues relating to patents. Typical early projects include:
- Working directly with inventors and others to identify patentable inventions and evaluate the scope of patent protection available for those inventions;
- Preparing patent applications describing inventions and negotiating the allowance of those applications with the Patent Office;
- Investigating whether our clients’ products and methods are at risk of infringing the intellectual property rights of others; and
- Supporting litigation attorneys in lawsuits involving our clients’ patents or technology.
After approximately a year of learning patent practice, you will continue to expand your legal skills by working a reduced schedule during the day and attending law school at night. In addition to paying you a competitive salary, Wolf Greenfield covers your tuition, books, and other expenses associated with attending law school. Upon graduation from law school, you will enjoy both the skills and the standing of a mid-level associate.
Our Tech Spec Hiring Process
We are highly selective, requiring not only outstanding academic and technical credentials, but a demonstrated commitment to our core values of teamwork and mutual respect. From new graduates and post doctoral students to seasoned professionals coming from industry, we look for technology specialists with the strengths, talents, and passion to ultimately become shareholders of Wolf Greenfield. We hire a small number of people in whom we believe strongly and invest heavily.
Hiring at Wolf Greenfield is a joint effort between members of a particular practice group, with whom you will do most of your work, and our Hiring Committee, which ensures that consistent hiring goals and criteria are applied across the firm. Each new hire should enhance not only his or her practice group, but the firm as a whole.
In most cases, your first contact with Wolf Greenfield will be with our Hiring Manager or one of our attorneys, either at a career fair or an on-campus interview, or by telephone after we have received your resume. The next step in our hiring process is for you to visit the firm to meet a number of attorneys and tech specs within – and beyond – the practice group to which you are applying. This visit usually lasts at least half a day, and often includes lunch.
Just as we are selective in hiring, we hope and expect that you will be diligent in exploring whether our firm is a good match for you. We encourage candidates to be in touch with our attorneys and to return to the firm for follow-up visits if desired.
Our Practice Group Structure
Our practice group structure provides a framework for training and workflow. Your primary practice group, which is based on your core area of expertise, will coordinate your workflow to ensure that you are doing interesting and enjoyable work that enhances your professional development. We also encourage you to join a secondary practice group based on your other interests or expertise.
You will be working closely with clients from your first days at the firm, and you will join several different client teams. After a period of time, you will become the primary point of contact for some of these clients.
Our work is collaborative and cross-disciplinary. For example, members of our core technical practice groups may support our litigators in contested matters, and vice versa. Bringing these talents together enables us to serve all aspects of our clients’ IP needs efficiently and effectively.
Your Transition into Wolf Greenfield
We want to make your transition into the firm as smooth as possible. You will be assigned a mentor, who will provide guidance and answer questions you may have about the firm and your work assignments. Your mentor will also help you get to know your colleagues and the firm’s various practices areas. We pride ourselves on being a firm where everyone knows everyone else and understands what others are doing.
Your orientation to the firm will, of course, include a number of formal training sessions and meetings with administrative staff, as well as attorney lunches and practice group meetings. The firm’s social events are an equally important part of your orientation too!
Training
In addition to working on real projects for our clients, you will attend training sessions along with new associates to develop your skills in intellectual property law. These formal training programs, organized by experienced colleagues, are central to the success of the tech spec program. Training sessions include a comprehensive orientation in IP law, sessions relating to specific areas in patents and trademarks, and a case review program (featuring detailed discussions of recent court decisions on IP issues).
You’ll discover our training comes alive with real world examples and application through interaction with clients and colleagues. See Professional Development for further details on the training opportunities available.
How Tech Specs Balance It All
While we value hard work, we place just as high a value on our lives outside the office. Our culture emphasizes family time and the pursuit of personal endeavors outside of work.
At Wolf Greenfield, we understand that our culture is a key reason people want to join us — and want to stay — so we work hard to preserve it. We have one of the lowest billable hours requirements of Boston-area firms, and further reduce that requirement for tech specs attending law school.
There is a strong sense of camaraderie and partnership among our tech specs and attorneys, and there is always someone happy to lend you a helping hand. You’ll find that our many tech spec “alums” are a great resource to help you balance your varied roles. Listen to Associate, Melissa Beede, describe how she balanced work and law school as a Tech Spec. Get the Flash Player to see this player.
