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plus ca change. again.
So the sort of job I think I'm looking for is a kind of research associate sort of deal, such as might be found in a think tank or even a law firm, handling the research and writing aspects of a thing in a way that would free up the lawyers to, you know, practice law, which I am neither qualified nor legally permitted to do. (I am extraordinarily qualified to perform research according to someone else's instructions. The fact that I didn't go on to do doctoral work just shows that I'm not really so groovy with original research, but that's fine; if someone else says "You know what I've always wondered", I'm the girl to find the answer.)
And it occurred to me a couple of weeks ago that my old firm has what I think are that kind of people. They were called Technical Specialists, and they had master's or doctoral degrees in relevant subjects, and they researched stuff and so on. Now, my academic work has not been in practical patent-related fields like engineering or molecular biology, but I could do that sort of work in the trademark and copyright area, surely. They could bill my time at a rate higher than that of a legal assistant, but they wouldn't have to pay me as much as they'd pay a lawyer. Everybody wins!
Unfortunately, says my friend and former manager, the tech specs (as we used to call them) are hired for a maximum of two years in that position and it's en route to becoming a lawyer -- they're all law students or at least planning to go to law school in the immediate future, and I have no such plans. Plus they don't really have any similar positions in non-patent kind of areas; in the trademark group the student associates do all the research and everyone knows I don't want to be a legal assistant.
So that's a bit of a strikeout, although at least I've re-established contact with people who know people, etc., so it wasn't a waste of two e-mails and a phone call. But the real thing is this: the manager of litigation legal assistants, who knows that I don't want to come back and work for her When I Grow Up, is nevertheless interested in the fact that I'm back in town and wonders if I'd like to come work for her while I'm finding The Right Job, on account of the case I was working on two years ago is still there and going to trial soon. (There was a trial, I think, and then appeals, and some other things -- so maybe it's going to trial again. Who knows.) So I'm going to drop her a line, because I can totally work there if it's not forever, and I made good money last time I was up there. We'll see.
But one really feels, at times, like Michael Corleone, you know what I mean?
And it occurred to me a couple of weeks ago that my old firm has what I think are that kind of people. They were called Technical Specialists, and they had master's or doctoral degrees in relevant subjects, and they researched stuff and so on. Now, my academic work has not been in practical patent-related fields like engineering or molecular biology, but I could do that sort of work in the trademark and copyright area, surely. They could bill my time at a rate higher than that of a legal assistant, but they wouldn't have to pay me as much as they'd pay a lawyer. Everybody wins!
Unfortunately, says my friend and former manager, the tech specs (as we used to call them) are hired for a maximum of two years in that position and it's en route to becoming a lawyer -- they're all law students or at least planning to go to law school in the immediate future, and I have no such plans. Plus they don't really have any similar positions in non-patent kind of areas; in the trademark group the student associates do all the research and everyone knows I don't want to be a legal assistant.
So that's a bit of a strikeout, although at least I've re-established contact with people who know people, etc., so it wasn't a waste of two e-mails and a phone call. But the real thing is this: the manager of litigation legal assistants, who knows that I don't want to come back and work for her When I Grow Up, is nevertheless interested in the fact that I'm back in town and wonders if I'd like to come work for her while I'm finding The Right Job, on account of the case I was working on two years ago is still there and going to trial soon. (There was a trial, I think, and then appeals, and some other things -- so maybe it's going to trial again. Who knows.) So I'm going to drop her a line, because I can totally work there if it's not forever, and I made good money last time I was up there. We'll see.
But one really feels, at times, like Michael Corleone, you know what I mean?
no subject
But at least now you have an idea of the sort of thing you might like to do. You just have to find some other field in which it is a career and not a stepping stone.