Patent Attorney? | Emily Y. K. Chan

This July, I completed a week-long summer internship at Mewburn Ellis, working from their Manchester office with other interns exploring the patent attorney profession.

I have already written a short reflection for Mewburn Ellis about the internship itself, which can be read from the link below. That piece focused on what we did during the week: drafting claims, responding to office actions, learning about oppositions and litigations, meeting people across the firm, and understanding how patent attorneys work at the intersection of science, law, and business.

My internship reflection for Mewburn Ellis

I have already written a short reflection for Mewburn Ellis about the internship itself, including what we did during the week and what I learnt about the patent attorney profession.

Read the Mewburn Ellis article

SWOT analysis: patent attorney as a post-PhD career

This post has a different purpose. Rather than writing another experience-based reflection, I wanted to use this space to think more critically about whether becoming a patent attorney could be a good career direction after my PhD.

Strengths

The patent attorney route offers a structured and professionally recognised career path after the PhD.

Paid professional training while working towards qualification.
Clear progression from trainee to part-qualified, fully qualified, associate, senior associate, and potentially partner.
Good job security compared with many short-term academic or research contracts.
Uses PhD skills: technical reading, precise writing, analytical thinking, and communication.
Flexible desk-based work, with potential for hybrid and remote working.

Weaknesses

The route is attractive, but it also requires accepting a long and jurisdiction-specific qualification process.

Qualification is mainly tied to the UK and Europe.
Full qualification usually takes several years of exams and supervised practice.
Trainee salary may be lower than some post-PhD industry, data science, or technical roles.
It would be a major career turn away from hands-on technology development.
Returning to research or engineering later may become harder over time.

Opportunities

The profession could make interdisciplinary scientific training useful in a broader commercial and legal context.

Growing demand for intellectual property expertise in technology-driven sectors.
Exposure to many areas of science and technology rather than one narrow research niche.
Opportunity to develop legal, commercial, and business-facing skills.
A clearer professional identity after the uncertainty of a PhD.
Potential long-term career stability and progression.

Threats

The main risks are not only about the profession itself, but also about what I might give up by entering it.

AI may automate or reshape parts of writing-heavy patent work.
Opportunity cost of leaving academia, biomedical engineering, AI, or translational research.
A one-week internship cannot fully show the pressures of the full career.
International mobility may be limited by qualification boundaries.
Risk of misfit if the work becomes too document-heavy or removed from science.

A note on Mewburn Ellis

My own experience with Mewburn Ellis was genuinely incredible. Across the internship week, I found the firm welcoming, thoughtful, and very generous with its time.

For anyone considering this route, Mewburn Ellis has been recruiting trainee patent attorneys for its Autumn 2026 intake. The roles are designed for people with strong scientific or technical backgrounds who are interested in using that expertise in a legal and commercial context.

Update May 2026: the 2026 trainee patent attorney intake has now closed. According to the Mewburn Ellis careers page, their 2026 Trainee Patent Attorney opportunities are closed, and recruitment for the 2027 intake is expected to go live in the autumn.

Their careers page is available here:

Mewburn Ellis careers and trainee opportunities

Information about trainee patent attorney opportunities, placement schemes, and future recruitment rounds at Mewburn Ellis.

View Mewburn Ellis careers