Technical Specialists
A Supported IP Career Trajectory
Our technical specialists join Finnegan from graduate school or after gaining relevant industry experience, at the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), or other postgraduate careers. You will take your place among a team that includes nearly 300 professionals with scientific degrees, and 65+ professionals with Ph.D.’s. If you have an outstanding technical background in a hard science, engineering, or computer science, and are interested in becoming a practicing IP attorney, know that Finnegan offers a highly-structured transitional career pathway.
Our Client-Service Approach
Technical expertise is a core component of what Finnegan offers clients and is highly valued within Finnegan’s collegial culture and flat hierarchic structure. Yes, we are a firm with a powerful track record of defending and advocating for our clients and their innovations, but for us, IP law is more than a zero-sum game of winners and losers. Innovation and rulings have multi-dimensional implications, and clients regularly turn to us for guidance as they navigate new or shifting IP terrain. As you develop your own technical expertise, you’ll be right at the center of the IP conversation.
20+ industries
Representing the most innovative companies across the globe, spanning industries including pharmaceutical, electrical, and others.
Why Finnegan?
Finnegan is about people. As a Technical Specialist, you will collaborate with attorneys, peer experts, and professional support staff from around the world. Our professionals are multilingual and multicultural and hail from locations ranging from Romania to Pennsylvania to Colombia to Taiwan. There’s a reason Vault ranked us as a top law firm for diversity in its 2021 rankings. The culture here prizes relationships, teamwork, and respect, regardless of title or function. Find out why many Finnegan professionals spend their entire career here.
We practice every major area of IP.
As you lay the foundation for your career, know that Finnegan attorneys serve clients through 10 major IP practice areas and many additional sub-practices. We also follow innovation, with specialist teams focused on more than 20 industries that currently generate the bulk of global IP activity.
Where You Can Work
Technical Specialists work in our Washington, DC headquarters, or in one of our other nine offices situated near innovation hubs in Atlanta, Boston, Palo Alto, Reston, London, Seoul, Shanghai, Taipei, or Tokyo.
"There’s tons of expertise here, and that just makes my work better, because I get to rely on other people who have tremendous experience."
— Finnegan technical specialist
Professional Development
At Finnegan, you will discover that continuous training and professional development are a vital part of your career and our culture. You will receive all the resources and training you need to assist you in becoming an exceptional attorney providing superior service to our clients. In addition to in-house roundtable programs, ad hoc meetings about updates to changes in IP law, and monthly practice group and section meetings, Finnegan offers formal training programs.
Benefits
At Finnegan, you’ll find that the health and well-being of all our professionals and their families are of the utmost importance. We offer a comprehensive, well-rounded benefits package to meet your health, financial, and educational needs and interests.
Health and welfare benefits
- Affordable health, dental and vision insurance plans, including convenient telehealth services
- Firm-paid life insurance
- Firm-paid accidental death and dismemberment insurance
- Firm-paid long-term disability insurance
- Group supplemental life, accidental death and dismemberment, long-term care insurance, and income protection plans available
- Domestic partner benefits
- Flexible spending accounts for dependent care, healthcare, and parking expenses
- Health advocacy program
- Wellness program
- Free resource and care support program for employees with children with developmental disabilities
- Pet insurance
Leave benefits and flexible work schedules
- Paid jury duty
- Paid bereavement leave
- Personal and educational leaves of absence
- Paid medical leave (short-term disability)
- Paid family and parental leave
- Reduced and part-time work schedule options
Retirement benefits
- Pre-tax 401(k) and Roth feature with firm match and profit sharing program
- Pre-retirement planning assistance
Childcare and eldercare
- Back-up/Emergency child care, center-based or in-home
- In-home sick childcare
- In-home backup elder/adult care
- Preferred access spaces for full-time childcare (DC office)
Additional benefits
- Pre-tax transportation expenses
- Employee assistance program
- Overtime meal and taxicab rides
- Direct deposit
FAQs
What are the hiring criteria for technical specialists?
You must have a hard science, engineering, or computer science degree and demonstrated expertise in your field. Technical specialists are expected to apply and be accepted into an evening part-time law school program local to one of our domestic offices.
Will I be assigned to a specific department?
You are placed into a practice group based on your scientific or technical background. Each practice group has a practice group leader who monitors the workloads and professional development of the practice group members.
What type of work will I get?
Typically, a technical specialist focuses on patent prosecution. However, your scientific skills may be better suited to a litigation-based workload. Work is assigned based on skill sets, professional development goals, and client needs.
What is the billing requirement?
The billing requirement is 2,000 billable hours per year.
Does the firm give credit for pro bono work?
Yes, credit toward your billable goal is awarded for pro bono contributions. Pro bono work is an important part of Finnegan’s commitment to social responsibility. We believe that giving back is also an opportunity to receive knowledge, expertise, experience, and the good feeling one gets from helping others. Technical specialists are credited 100 hours a year toward their billable hour goal for work on pro bono matters.
Is there a mentoring program?
When you join the firm, you are assigned both a partner advisor and a peer advisor. Your partner advisor assists with the formal performance reviews given twice a year and counsels you in regard to your professional development. Your peer advisor, who is usually a former technical specialist, will introduce you to others in the firm, answer your questions, and help smooth your transition into the firm.
What is the firm's dress code?
Our day-to-day dress is business casual in all of our offices. Occasionally, you may be required to wear a business suit or comparable formal professional attire.
What is the firm's diversity and inclusion policy?
Finnegan is one of the leading companies in any field when it comes to the recruitment and retention of a diverse workforce. When you meet with us, you will quickly realize that Finnegan values diversity. For more information about our diversity and inclusion efforts, please click here.
How to Apply
If you are interested in what we have to offer, know that we set a high bar. Also know that those who join us tend to stay for a very long time.
To apply for a position with Finnegan, please e-mail a cover letter, resume, transcripts (undergraduate, graduate (if applicable), and a writing sample to:
Atlanta office:
Hiring Contact: Erica Campbell, Recruiter
Email: attyrecruit-ATL@finnegan.com
Boston office:
Hiring Contact: Christine Brennan, Recruiter
Email: attyrecruit-BOS@finnegan.com
Palo Alto office:
Hiring Contact: Meave Cox, Recruiter
Email: attyrecruit-PAO@finnegan.com
Reston office:
Hiring Contact: Morgan Kelly, Recruiter
Email: attyrecruit-RES@finnegan.com
Washington office:
Hiring Contact: Laurie Taylor, Recruiter
Email: attyrecruit-DC@finnegan.com