Annual salary survey shows strong graduate salaries within IP sector
If you are a recent graduates looking for a potentially lucrative (as well as rewarding and mentally stimulating) career, there is good news from the intellectual property world. A recent salary survey carried out by Dawn Ellmore Employment has revealed that salaries for graduate trainees entering the intellectual property sector have been rising steadily and now offer a top rate of up to £34,000 per year for patent attorney roles and up to £29,000 per year for trade mark attorney roles, according to the 2018 survey’s research and findings.
With the average graduate starting salary estimated as being between £19,000 to £22,000 (based on graduate-jobs.com findings), and around up to £30,000 within the finance sector, the survey’s research reflects the potential for the intellectual property sector to offer science, technology and engineering graduates an alternative to the more traditional academic or research roles that is both financially lucrative and mentally rewarding. To support this, the survey also revealed that fully qualified patent attorneys with between one to four years’ experience post-qualification now receive up to £84,000 per year, and qualified trade mark attorneys with up to four years’ experience post-qualification now receive up to £73,000 per year – just one of many reasons why recent graduates with a science background and interested in a legal career option should consider training to become a patent attorney or a trade mark attorney.
The 2018 survey findings also revealed that junior positions within this sector based outside London saw some of the most significant salary increases – good news for anyone hoping to avoid a move to the capital but still interested in pursuing a career in intellectual property.
All in all, this salary survey and its findings show that there is an encouraging increase in demand for expertise across the intellectual property sector, which is being matched by growing employment opportunities for trade mark and patent attorneys and other specialist IP staff including legal staff and niche solicitors. If this survey has given you some food for thought and you are thinking about a move into an intellectual property career but don’t know where to start, the careers advice section of our website has all the information anyone interested in this sector might need, from essential skill for patent attorneys to how to lay out the perfect CV for an IP role.
Figures and information taken from Dawn Ellmore Employment Salary Survey 2018.
