Richa Patel

“I never planned on going to law school. I planned on going to medical school,” shares alum Richa Patel ’22.  

Realizing she didn’t have the same passion for medicine that her friends did, she set out to find a career path she too was passionate about.  That’s when she first met Professor Mark Janis.  “He was the initial person who introduced me to the different ways to practice patent law and what it means to be a patent attorney.  He also showed me all the unique opportunities Maurer had for IP.”  

Richa made every effort to take advantage of Maurer’s IP opportunities, participating in Patent Drafting Competition, three semesters of the IP Clinic, the Oxford IP Moot Court Competition and Patent Trial Practice.  She was also active with IP Association (2020-21 President), ChIPs, IP Theory (Managing Editor) among other activities.     

Despite initially thinking she would go into patent prosecution, after completing a patent litigation summer associate position during her 2L year of law school and being involved with IP litigation courses and moot courts, Richa found she enjoyed her litigation experience. She accepted a full time offer at that firm in their litigation group.  Richa is currently a 1st year associate at Sterne Kessler Goldstein & Fox in Washington, D.C.   

Arathi Kumar, 2L

Initially entering college as a pre-med student, Arathi Kumar’s interest in law developed by taking some elective coursework during her undergraduate degree and while involved with USC’s Society of Women in Law.  “I was involved with an undergraduate student organization that worked on medical device design and product launching, so that also sparked an interest in patents.” 

Arathi is excited to find that her interest continues to evolve as she experiences the various aspects of intellectual property.  “I came into law school interested in patent litigation (specifically life sciences), but I’ve also really enjoyed working on trademark and copyright projects this summer. I’m also interested in IP transactions because contracts was one of my favorite 1L classes.”

Her advice for incoming students? “Getting involved as a 1L is really important, especially if you plan on going into IP! I met my IP Association mentor before I even joined the organization,” she shared. During her time at Maurer, Arathi has been actively involved with IP Association (she will be the Vice President this year) IP Theory (Associate),  Volunteers in IP, ChIPs, APALSA, the Women’s Law Caucus and the Protective Order Project.

Maame Yaa Bosuo Norman, 3L

Originally from Ghana, Maame Yaa Norman started off with plans to major in architecture at Hampton University, a historically black college, located in Hampton, Virginia.  Life would have other plans for Maame Yaa and within days, the strong math and science student, would have her major changed to Chemical Engineering, from which she would graduate the top engineering student in her class.  Maame Yaa would continue and attain her PhD in Chemical Engineering with a specialty in Process Systems Engineering from Carnegie Mellon University, become a Lead Scientist, an Adjunct Professor, a published author among other life successes. 

It was her experience working at a paper company, leading work on a patent for a toilet paper design that her interest in IP began.  “My engineering mindset is about innovation and problem solving. I could see that IP attorneys with the background in the science and engineering concepts are very valuable to protecting innovation.” Speaking with a friend in law school at Georgetown, she learned more about career options for those with science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) backgrounds and specifically about the possibilities of becoming an Intellectual Property Attorney/Patent Attorney.    

This is when she began her law school search and found Maurer.  Despite it being a long drive or flight from her home, husband and three sons in Wisconsin, Maame Yaa is entering her 3L year and looking to the future.  “I am hopeful that my story inspires the next generation of students who want to change the world, one student, and one innovation at a time. I look at my three kids who are completely inspired by this task when I hear them talk to their classmates describing what their mom does.” 

Qixuan "Vanessa" Wang, 3L

As a first-generation college student and international student pursuing a degree in physics, continuing for a career in law was not something Vanessa Wang initially had in mind.  A series of events, including timely contact from a recruiter about a patent agent position, led her to consider law school and intellectual property. 

Vanessa is particularly interested in a career in patent prosecution and while at Maurer, she was able to learn more about it through conducting informational interviews with attorneys in this field during her first semester.  “Maurer has a strong and established IP law ecosystem that was helpful in getting the information and guidance I needed to reach that decision.” Vanessa is also interested in studying privacy regulations and cybersecurity as a part of the adjacent Law & Technology program at Maurer.

During her time at Maurer, Vanessa has completed an internship with Cook Medical’s in-house patent team, participated in the AIPLA IP Moot Court competition, the IP Clinic along with co-founding LETS (Life Experience Then School), a student organization that provides tailored event opportunities for law students with professional work experience, families, and/or children.