Turtles all the way down

Just about everyone who knows me has shown some degree of surprise over my decision to go to law school. It’s only fair to set the story straight here.

On the surface, it doesn’t seem to make sense…I’m walking away from a reasonably solid career. Why make the jump to a totally different field now?

I’ve been involved in patent prosecution for about 10 years. The internal logical of patent law, and many other areas of law, is similar to that of software: Boolean algebra, conditional expressions, rules and exceptions, and so on. The gap between software to intellectual property is not the Grand Canyon; it’s more like a crack in the sidewalk.

The patent business is a pretty good one to be in right now and, barring some radical change of the law by Congress, will likely remain so for quite a while. There’s the RIM / NTP battle and the Alcatel / Microsoft battle, just to name two. Both of these actions required huge amounts of work from lawyers. I’m pretty sure I won’t be bored.

For me, this career change will allow me to stretch my wings in a new direction, while being able to do other things I enjoy: doing research, making formal oral and written arguments, and working closely with small teams.

However the law appeals to me for other reasons. For the last 18 months I’ve been taking care of an elderly parent. I also have a child with severe food allergies. Both have been life changing experiences and the law has a lot to say about these situations. The rights of the elderly and the rights of people with invisible disabilities are protected, but the law is dynamic and unsettled in these areas. With the aging of the population as well as the unfortunate increase in congenital food allergies, this aspect of family law will be a growth area as time goes on. I don’t expect to practice law in this area, at least not any time soon, but I do plan to learn about it and watch it carefully.

The timing issue made this situation tricky. If you go to law school, you have to start in September. If you miss September this year, you have to wait until September next year. I’m not getting any younger. If I wait another year or two, they might turn into five or ten years. At that point I’ll be less motivated to go back to school and do something new, and the potential career benefit will decrease, as I’ll be that much closer to retirement.

So, the time is right. I’m motivated. And I’ve never cared much for being conventional.