Interviews
We asked the people who do the work what the job is actually like.
Kim Do-hyun · Managing Attorney (electrical & electronics)
What does a day look like?
Mornings are for drafting. It needs uninterrupted time, so I push meetings to the afternoon. Afternoons mix invention consultations and office-action work, and anything on a deadline takes priority.
What is the hardest part?
Rights are often won or lost at the point where an inventor waves something off as “obvious”. Holding on to what looks obvious and asking again why it was done that way is the hardest part of the job, and the most important.
What do you expect from someone joining?
Less the ability to grasp technology quickly, more the willingness to say you do not understand and ask again. A specification written on a half-formed understanding always causes trouble later.
What makes it rewarding?
When a claim I wrote years ago holds off a competing product. You remember exactly why you phrased that sentence the way you did.
Park Ji-woo · Patent Attorney (chemistry & bio)
How did you end up here?
I spent three years at a large firm before moving. There, matters passed between people at each stage, and it frustrated me that I never learned what became of a specification I had written.
What changed after the move?
I see a matter from beginning to end. Even when registration takes three years, it stays with me — so I have a feel for which amendments are risky during prosecution.
What is different about the bio field?
Experimental data is the heart of the specification. Thin data means you cannot claim broadly, so I discuss the filing date itself with the researchers.
Anything for applicants?
People often ask whether they can use their degree. You do not just use it — you use it every day. If you do not mind reading papers, this will suit you.
Want to work with us?
Take a look at the open roles and the hiring process, then apply.