Is AI Upending How IP Firms Hire Graduates?
These past few weeks, I have been having some insightful conversations with partners and CEOs of firms across Europe to discuss hiring thoughts for the coming year. What has been interesting is the collective view that they are reducing their number of graduate hires for the first time in many years. One partner informed me that 2025 was the first year that they have chosen not to hire graduates at all, with a view to see how AI will impact this end of the profession.
Interestingly, I also picked up a recent article in the latest HBR discussing the exact same issue facing management consulting and law firms across the US. Gone are the days, it seems, of hiring a bank of graduates and allowing for attrition for the select few to rise to the top. And in the meantime, they carry out the heavy lifting at the associate level, leaving the partners to focus on the strategic and client management side. Does this suggest a similar future for the patent profession in Europe? Will the traditional pyramid base of graduates and associates be eroded to become a pillar? If this is the case, how do firms ensure they have succession planning firmly locked in?
Hire for Leadership, Not Heavy Lifting:
The screening of graduates has been focused very much on technical competence and the ability to translate innovation discussions into patent drafting. When switching to more talent-efficient models, with less churn, firms need to be more deliberate in aligning candidates for the future roles they are being hired to fill. This includes being clear and deliberate about what that future job entails.
There are AI firms which are establishing themselves in Europe and creating a paradigm shift within the profession. In response, firms need to move beyond workflows rooted in a pre-internet era, and instead rethink their processes more fundamentally. That includes not just adopting new tools, but redesigning workflows from the ground up, and supporting this with structured training for associates, for example through an in-house AI academy.
Break the Rules to Build the Future:
With AI improving efficiency in prior art searching and drafting support, there comes a reduction in the number of hours being billed to a client. AI clearly presents an opportunity for those firms to adapt their pricing strategies as AI starts completing much of the ‘grunt work’. Some of our clients have long adopted fixed fees for projects based on the value delivered; even subscription-based fees are gaining traction. Leaning in this direction has led to firms being able to sell large bundled projects. A long-standing client of ours has adopted this approach, providing a bundle of services to include patent and management consulting-adjacent strategic services. They hired patent attorneys who were not only EPA qualified but who were also put through mini MBAs.
What is very clear is that AI is having a positive impact supporting patent attorneys in the work they carry out. What needs to be future-proofed is how the new crop of talent coming into the profession is skilled up to become true experts of AI-driven patent processes, and how they are moulded to become future partners of their firms.
Through the month of March and April, we will be collating more comments and insights into the above challenges and preparing a white paper to share with our clients. We will keep you posted!
