How to Become a Patent Attorney

• For the USPTO, an attorney is an active member in good standing of the bar of the highest court of any state, D.C., or a U.S. commonwealth or territory (37 C.F.R. § 11.1).
• A citizen (or lawful permanent resident) who is an attorney and meets the USPTO's requirements may be registered as a patent attorney (§ 11.6(a)). Someone who meets them but is not an attorney is registered as a patent agent (§ 11.6(b)).
• Only attorneys may represent others before the USPTO in trademark matters (§ 11.14). The USPTO notes that patent agents cannot argue patent cases in court; attorneys admitted to a court can.

The differences in practice are in patent agent vs. patent attorney.

Sources: 37 C.F.R. § 11.1, § 11.6, § 11.14; USPTO, Applying for patents.

1. Earn a qualifying technical degree, or the science credits or FE exam that substitute for one (patent bar requirements).
2. Pass the patent bar whenever you are ready; it does not require a law degree. If you pass before bar admission, you are registered as a patent agent.
3. Earn a J.D. at a law school, usually one approved by the American Bar Association.
4. Pass a state bar exam and, in most jurisdictions, the MPRE, and the jurisdiction's character and fitness review.
5. Register as a patent attorney: file a certificate of good standing with the USPTO, either with your registration papers or, if you are already an agent, as a change of status.

Sources: GRB, Parts III and XIV; 37 C.F.R. § 11.7; Becoming a patent practitioner.

• The ABA has approved 198 institutions and programs that award the J.D.
• ABA Standard 311 requires at least 83 credit hours for the J.D., at least 64 of them in courses with regular classroom sessions or direct faculty instruction. Standard 303 adds a professional responsibility course of at least two credits, two writing experiences and at least six credits of experiential courses.
• Part-time programs let you study while working, for example as a technical specialist or patent agent: the ABA lists 92 approved schools with approved part-time programs.

Sources: ABA-approved law schools; ABA Standards 2026-2027, Chapter 3; schools with approved part-time programs (our count of the list).

• Each jurisdiction sets its own requirements. In 20 of the 56 jurisdictions NCBE lists, only J.D. (or LL.B.) graduates of ABA-approved schools may take the bar exam; most others allow other routes only in narrow cases, often after years of practice elsewhere.
• The MPRE, a two-hour, 60-question ethics exam given three times a year, is required by every U.S. jurisdiction except Wisconsin and Puerto Rico; Connecticut and New Jersey accept a law school professional responsibility course instead.
• The bar exam is changing. The NextGen bar exam was first given in July 2026, and NCBE says 52 jurisdictions have adopted it, with most switching between July 2026 and July 2028.
• Some jurisdictions let law students sit for the bar exam before graduating (16 of the 56, by our count of NCBE's table).

Check the rules of the jurisdiction where you will practice with its bar admission agency, as NCBE itself advises.

Sources: NCBE Comprehensive Guide, Chart 3 and Chart 1 (our counts); MPRE; NextGen bar exam.

• If you are already admitted to a bar when you pass the patent bar, file a certificate of good standing, less than six months old, from the highest court of your state with your Data Sheet; you will be registered as a patent attorney. Without one, you are registered as an agent.
• If you are a registered agent who becomes a lawyer, ask OED to change your status (§ 11.7(l)) by mailing a recent, authenticated certificate of good standing from the court (not from a state bar association); the USPTO says this typically takes about 10 days.

Sources: GRB, Part XIV; 37 C.F.R. § 11.7(l); routine processing of practitioner documents; Becoming a patent practitioner.

Registered practitioners may employ assistants who are not registered and work under their supervision, which is how many firms employ engineers and scientists before registration; once registered, you can practice as an agent while studying law, and the ABA lists 92 schools with approved part-time programs. Open roles are on the technical specialist and patent agent boards, and posted pay is on our salary page.

Sources: 37 C.F.R. § 11.5(b); ABA part-time programs.