Birth

I always knew I need a life outside of home. I have tried the purest form of domesticity ten years back when I was pregnant with our first child—it felt like the perfect time to “take a break” with something exciting to look forward to at home. Instead, I found myself interviewing with a couple of law firms in Washington DC, six months pregnant, telling the interviewers that I am ready to switch my career from engineering to law. They were persuaded. I frequently joke that my son and my legal career are practically twins. I completed ten years as a patent practitioner recently, and my son is going to turn ten in less than a fortnight.

My well-meaning friends keep telling me that I am not too old yet to give birth to another child—after all my first pregnancy was really smooth and my son turned out to be an easy child all along. I never had a concrete response to why I did not go for another child. I think I finally found the response that I was looking for. I am giving birth to another child! I am giving birth to myself—in a new avatar. I am giving birth to a lawyer.

The gestation period for the 'lawyer–baby' is long and arduous. And I am noticing the unmissable parallel with pregnancy. In pregnancy, the first trimester is dominated by the fear of unknown and thinking constantly what may go wrong. The second trimester is the easiest, and the most enjoyable, because you learn to go with the flow. And the last trimester is all about patience. You just want to get done with the whole pregnancy thing! Law school is not much different. The first year was a bit torturous, the second year was a very enjoyable ride, and now third year is about to begin, but already I cannot wait to get done with law school! And then the formidable California Bar is waiting to ruin my summer of 2016. But who said giving birth to anyone or anything is easy!

This Fall I will be working for a federal Judge at the San Jose Courthouse as part of my third year law school curriculum.  When I got the interview call from the Judge's chambers last week, I dusted off the same leather portfolio bag that I carried on the first day of my first law firm job ten years back. The interview with the Judge and her senior staff was cordial. I even got to share my 'twin' joke with the Judge after the substantive part of the interview was over. She laughed and shook my hand. I got the job offer that afternoon. 

I am starting to like the beginning of my ‘third trimester.’ Looks like giving birth to myself is not a bad undertaking at all!

*Image source: http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/picture/2014/may/24/bobdylan-photography

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!