Geissler & Associates

Few people understand or appreciate that they may be eligible to practice law in the United States, depending primarily upon their knowledge and experience, without first having to pass a state bar examination, or attend law school.

Two such licensing opportunities are outlined below.

For example, the United States Tax Court governs admission to the federal tax courts and administers its own bar examination based upon detailed knowledge of the United States Tax Code. By passing this bar examination, one earns the right to use the title "U.S. Tax Attorney" and represent clients before both the U.S. Internal Revenue Service and the United States Tax Court in all tax-related matters. Of course, the tax bar is difficult; few people pass, or even attempt, the U.S. federal tax bar.

Likewise, the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) governs admission to practice before the Patent Office and administers its own patent bar examination based upon detailed knowledge of 35 U.S.C., 37 C.F.R., and the Manual of Patent Examining Procedure (MPEP). By passing the patent bar, one earns the right to use the title "U.S. Patent Agent" and represent clients before the United States Patent and Trademark Office in all patent-related matters. Of course, the patent bar is difficult; each year 4,500 people sit the U.S. federal patent bar, only 40% pass the examination on their first attempt.

The crux of the idea is that the applicable law is federal regulation, not the common law; thus legal training of limited scope is permissible because knowledge of the whole breadth of common law jurisprudence is not ordinarily called upon in the practice of a legal specialty founded solely upon federal regulation.

Simply put, if the common law were a mile in length, the federal tax code would be only an inch. The same is true with regards to patent law.