THE LARGEST COLLECTION OF LEGAL JOBS ON EARTH
LawCrossing General Counsel Consulting Career Feature
In-house Openings in Tech Companies In contrast to many other industry sectors, tech companies, especially those related with information technology show no signs of stopping or slowing down. The recent overwhelming response to Facebook’s IPO is an indicator, and the need of lawyers in such companies is amply proved by the multitude of litigations between tech giants. While every tech company requires lawyers in traditional roles, as required by other businesses, the principal focus is on internationalizations, Intellectual property law, drafting of terms of service, contracts, patent acquisition, patent filing, copyright protection, copyright litigation and others on top of compliance requirements of SEC and other bodies.
In tech companies day-to-day work of lawyers involve
Attorneys or Health Care, Regulatory & Compliance
protection of brands and patents. Scrutiny and drafting
Attorneys are also available.
of every bit of published material ranging from Terms of Service to advertisements is expected of in-house
In-house lawyers in tech companies are especially
lawyers. In-house lawyers in tech companies also
focused on patent law and positions ranging from
need to interact with external law firms for litigation
Patent Associates through Patent Licensing Attorney
purposes generally involving IP law or contracts.
to Senior IP Counsel are encountered on an everyday basis in tech companies.
Common designations of in-house lawyers at tech companies include IP-Litigation Attorney, Licensing
Usually, in-house positions in big companies
& Technology Transactions Attorney, Technology
require additional technical degrees on top of legal
Transaction Attorney, Patent Attorney, Regulatory/
specializations in patent law.
Compliance Attorney etcetera. According to the nature
Usually a B.S. or higher in a specific stream of
of their businesses, most technology companies
academic or industrial discipline is a must. Most
also need in-house lawyers in the positions of
openings are in Fortune 500 companies, so pay and
Export Compliance Attorney, Corporate & Securities
environment is quite acceptable.
Attorney and positions dealing with regulations and requirements of regular business functions. All or most
Ideally, in-house lawyers in tech companies are
of these positions are also available from beginner to
required to have a good technical background,
senior levels, and it is often to find in-house lawyers at
and expected to be registered with the USPTO and
tech companies in positions overseeing IP Strategy and
possessing experience in complex transactions over
Transactions.
technology. Usual transactions, besides conventional litigation includes licensing, joint-development, patent
The recent trend in the legal market shows that IP
portfolio acquisitions and so on and so forth. In-house
litigation and IP related work is booming in comparison
lawyers in tech companies are expected to be not only
to other legal fields. There are in-house lawyer
conversant with the latest technology and gadgets, but
openings in tech companies for Patent Prosecution
also have a fondness for technical things.
Attorneys on a regular basis as well as for in-house lawyers who specialize in mergers and acquisitions. Of
According to the nature of the tech company the area
course, technology companies still need help in finance
of additional expertise in in-house lawyer positions
and compliance so, positions as Finance & Securities
is defined. A Pharma company developing new bio-
PAGE
www.lawcrossing.com
continued on back