The Seven Year Itch

Today (May 16, 2012) marks the seventh anniversary of my switch to patent law from academia. This ability to remember these little anniversaries--arguably a predominatly 'girly' thing--is something that I am rather fond of, because it doesn't need any extra effort to remember these dates, but you still get a chance to bathe in nostalgia. If the word 'itch' in the title is clashing with your mental imagery of the soothing foam bath of nostalgia, worry not. The 'itch' was caused by the need for web-mortalizing the seven-year journey in some form, and with each letter being typed here, the 'itch' is actually diminishing. So may be a better title for this blog is "The seven year(s after the sw)itch," but let's not get carried away too much.
The most frequently asked question that I answer when I talk to someone who used to know me as an engineer-gearing-up-for-academia is "Why did you make the transition into patent law?" Coincidentally, even today I had the same conversation with a junior from the University of Maryland. The answer seems simple now. It was the pregnancy. Contrary to the myth that pregnancy may cause 'brain fog,' it actually made me see very clearly what I wanted to do with my engineering degree while capitalizing on my analytical skills and love of writing. It probably helped that an old friend happened to pay a social visit at the right time when I was naturally in an introspective phase, thanks to being first-time-pregnant. During a casual conversation, our friend revealed how he made the transition from academia to patent law. At that time I didn't pay enough attention, but a few weeks later it started to make a lot of sense, as I wanted to stay in the DC Metro area, where the patent law ecosystem is enviable (It is a different story that now I am in the silicon valley, and loving it here). Fortunately, landing the first legal job as a technical advisor in an intellectual property boutique firm was quite painless, and after that, it was just a matter of learning to be progressively comfortable with the law firm culture.
Seven years later, I can confidently state that even the hardcore engineers devoted to bench work should never underestimate the flickers of 'love-like-feelings' if they recognize those accidentally during a 'desk assignment'. I now know that those afternoons of being immersed in multiphysics modeling in between lab experiments during my post-doctoral stint was the prelude to my career in patent law.
Looking forward to many more seven years!