Increased interest in biotechnology, the pervasiveness of biotechnology products in daily life, and escalating numbers of patent filings and intellectual property (IP) infringement cases, has caused a high demand for lawyers with scientific/ technology backgrounds. For anyone considering alternative careers in biotechnology, the marriage of these two disciplines in a course of study can almost guarantee employment after graduation. In a recent interview with the University of Guelph Alumni magazine "Portico", patent lawyer Maria Granovsky described her first employer in the legal field, law firm Sterne Kessler, Goldstein & Fox (Washington, DC), as "keen to have associates who could argue the fine points of science".
So keen, in fact, that they paid her tuition to attend law school.
Marriage of Law and Science
Job opportunities, for individuals with both legal and scientific backgrounds, include work as a technical specialist (science degree) or associate (both degrees), dealing in IP cases such as patent, copyright and trademark disputes. The cases might be opened on behalf of clients already holding rights to a product or copyright, that have reason to claim those rights have been infringed by another party. Other times, clients might require protection from a lawsuit filed by another party whose patent claim, they feel, is invalid.
Many complications in establishing IP ownership can arise nowadays because of the sheer volume of patent claims being made and difficulty on the part of both researchers and regulating bodies, in keeping track of the specifics of (and ensuring the uniqueness of) each invention.
An invention that has already been previously described in the literature, or something that has been on the market for years, cannot be patented, yet the filing party, or patent office, might not be aware of the pre-existing product. That's when the lawyers are called in; to examine the facts, decipher the legal jargon, establish precedence, and defend their cases in court. According to Granovsky, law firms are having a hard time finding individuals with a solid understanding of the technology behind many of these high-tech cases.
Committee on Science, Technology, and Law
The National Academy of Sciences has recognized the convergence of these two very different disciplines by forming a Committee on Science, Technology and Law, to explore, discuss, and establish policies on five major areas: Science in Litigation, Federal Information Policy/ Access to Research Data, Science and National Security, Intellectual Property Rights and Protection of Human Participants in Environmental Research.
According to the Academy, much of the problem with legal cases surrounding technology issues is the key difference between how these two traditional disciplines have evolved. The practice of Law is based on facts and finite findings in an effort to resolve issues that might not have definitive answers according to science. Science, traditionally, is a discipline of sharing information, and an "open-ended search for expanded understanding, whose 'truths' are always subject to revision".
Expanding commercialism and the need to recover biotechnology investments and research funding through profits, has lead to the invasion of the scientific domain by legal issues surrounding IP, access to research data and conflicts of interest. Although science may have done without lawyers in the past, there are now many important bioethics issues that must be dealt with in areas of environmental science, biotechnology, genetics and medical research.
Success in either discipline depends on an ability to go "fact-finding"; gathering information and processing it in an orderly fashion. Both require a high amount of logic and attention to detail. Therefore, strengths in one area are easily applied to the other. A combined Science/Law degree provides essential tools for many other career options such as consulting, corporate management and other areas of technology. It’s not all glamor and courtroom heroics, though. Like any job, much of the routine involves attending meetings, seeing clients, research, and reading, writing letters and reviewing contracts and other documents, but the job description is ideal for those interested in studying science but looking for a career outside the laboratory.
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