Hello, everyone! I am Paul Dietze, and I’m here to chat with you about a career in patent law. A little bit about me: I’ve always liked science. When I was a kid, I had a chemistry set, I had a microscope, and I had one of those van de Graaff generators that you crank and make static electricity. I went to Queens College at the City University of New York, and that was a wonderful place. I got my undergraduate degree in chemistry from there. I worked a 40 hour week all through college, in an ice cream store. I never borrowed a dime to go to college. I paid for it as I went. I got a job as an analytical chemist within a year after I graduated college. I remember the job market was not real good when I graduated in 1976. I got a job at a flavor and fragrance company in Manhattan, Fritzsche, Dodge & Olcott. I went to NYU at night for my master’s in chemistry. I liked school much better than I liked the job, so I applied to the Ph.D. program and got accepted. I really enjoyed the teaching part, and I decided I wanted to teach. When I graduated I was offered a teaching position at a small liberal arts college in Indiana, Earlham College. I taught there for two years. I missed doing research, so I did a postdoc in the lab of William P. Jencks at Brandeis University. In 1987, I got a position as an assistant professor at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County. In 1993, I was not offered a tenure position, and I was always interested in law, so I applied for law school. At the same time, I applied for a job at the FDA to be a review chemist in the division of oncologic drug products anticancer drugs. I loved law school. I looked forward each day to getting out of work to go to school. Today, as a special counsel for Haynes and Boone, LLP, I provide counseling to clients in the generic pharmaceutical industry. I get to use my chemistry, and I get to use my law degree. It’s really a perfect blend of everything. If I had to do it all over again, I’d do it exactly the same way. I’m here to answer any questions you have about a career in patent law or how to use your chemistry degree for a nontraditional career. I’ll be online at 11:00am EDT to begin answering your questions! For more on nontraditional careers in chemistry, check out C&EN’s new Career Ladder series in the first issue of every month in C&EN. My Career Ladder profile appears in the inaugural June 6th issue of Career Ladder in C&EN. For a C&EN article on how to get a career in patent law, see: A Patently Satisfying Career updated links 08:35 EDT -acs Thank you for your questions. I have enjoyed chatting with you. –Paul