What are the responsibilities and job description for the Mid-Level IP Associate position at Smith Anderson?
Our team helps clients develop and commercialize exciting new technologies, and our IP lawyers work with a broad array of national and international corporate clients from startups to multinational companies. Our clients operate in diverse industry sectors, including retail, manufacturing, pharmaceutical, agricultural technology, software, finance, and education. We are looking for someone who can work with several members of our team on a variety of challenging issues, which will range from obtaining statutory protections (e.g., trademark and copyright) and evaluating potential infringement issues (e.g., conducting clearance searches and evaluations) to developing (e.g. preparing technology collaboration agreements) and commercializing intellectual property rights (e.g., negotiating software and patent license agreements). We have found that spanning this range of subject matter requires not only a strong academic grounding, but also a keen desire to learn by doing and knowing when to ask for help.
We hire for the long term and invest in our attorneys accordingly, and the firm and our team invest in training, mentoring, and development. Our associates and junior partners collaborate on informal training sessions on a cadence of once or twice per month throughout the year giving each other a chance to learn from recent experiences on our varied work activities. We prefer that our attorneys are in the office and offer a hybrid work schedule, which allows our attorneys to learn more and on a faster pace. We further understand that everyone’s needs are different and strive to accommodate work schedules.
Our group is part of a distinguished law firm with over 160 lawyers in a single office, making it the largest collection of private attorneys in the Research Triangle region of North Carolina. You will have an opportunity to work with and learn from some of the best and brightest. Approximately half of our attorneys joined us from national and international law firms and half have been with the firm their entire career. Cross-team opportunities include assisting with due diligence on intellectual property assets as part of corporate transactions such as mergers and acquisitions, advising clients from our start-up group on pragmatic intellectual property strategies, and offering subject matter expertise on disputes ranging from pre-litigation matters to lawsuits and arbitrations.
The Research Triangle is one of the country’s fastest-growing hubs for innovation and entrepreneurship. At our core, we are passionate about advising dynamic regional, national, and global companies and providing them unparalleled client service. It’s that client focus which has proudly earned us accolades and honors from many leading legal publications (https://www.smithlaw.com/about/recognition), and our focus on our staff and attorneys has earned accolades as well, including being named “Best Place to Work in 2024” by the Triangle Business Journal for the 5th year in a row, and one of the “Best Employers in North Carolina” by Business North Carolina. Further, we invest heavily in diversity and inclusion, including being Mansfield Plus Certified, and our commitment to and investment in our community is key to our culture (https://www.smithlaw.com/about/our-culture/community-service). We are a rare combination of legal and business innovators with a culture and heritage that has been shaped for more than 100 years.