Interim IP Market
Review, July 2011: Electronics Up, Chemistry Up, Biotech Static, Trade Mark
Static, Part Qualified Vacancies Down Across the Board.
The thoughts and
opinions of Pete Fellows, Director, Fellows and Associates.
Electronics Up
Since around March, we have noticed a steady growth in roles
for attorneys with a technical background in electronics, reaching its zenith
in the last month or so. There are now
more vacancies for Qualified Attorneys than at any point in the last 12 months. There remain some issues though. Firms with genuine opportunities for
partnership are more difficult to find and some firms will not necessarily be
completely open about the long term potential of a role (a good reason to use a
recruiter, to filter for you?). However,
if you are currently stuck in a firm where career progression seems to be
little more than a pipe dream – don’t despair, there are better options (I can
think of a few firms where that might be the case and I do imagine that they’ll
lose some of their more career motivated associates over the next 6-12 months). Salaries have previously been relatively
static but now in electronics at least, they are enjoying a bit of a rise as
competition for high quality candidates gets a little stiffer.
Chemistry Up
Well, a bit. It’s
been very tough being a chemist over the last couple of years. There really have been very few
vacancies. Whilst it still is by no
means a fantastically buoyant area, there have certainly been a few more
vacancies in recent months. As people
leave their current firms to join new ones, hopefully this will create more
opportunities as for now, at least, workloads seem to be increasing. Don’t expect a massive increase to your
salary though if you are moving firms, there really is not the demand to drive
salaries up.
Biotech Static
There have been a few firms recruiting over the last few
months (some very publically) but we are finding that there are more candidates
than there are jobs at present. Many
firms have experienced a drop off in biotech work which has made the future a
little uncertain.
Trade Mark Static
There have been some fairly high profile advertised
positions and there do seem to be more opportunities for qualified trade mark
attorneys. However, we think at least
some of these roles exist not due to new work but because of changeover of
staffing. Therefore, it is too early to
tell if there is an upwards trend.
Salaries certainly remain static but some firms have made sure that
trade mark attorneys are treated just as well as patent attorneys (it gets a
little more complicated if you are working for a multi service law firm).
Part Qualified
Vacancies
Perhaps somewhat surprisingly, as part qualified attorneys
are naturally less expensive to hire than those who have passed the exams,
finding a new job at the moment is really rather difficult irrespective of technical
background. We think it might be because
firms are leaner as a result of the recession and hence more experienced fee
earners simply do not have the requisite time to devote to training. Firms would rather spend the extra money and
recruit someone who is qualified and hence more immediately productive. Therefore if you are part qualified perhaps
it would be better to stay where you are for now – unless things really are
dire (or you take a punt on a specific job that really appeals).