Life After MIPLC

MIPLC graduates enjoy excellent career opportunities. Our ambitious degree program is extremely attractive to a wide variety of employers, who appreciate the fact that our program teaches applicable skills and focuses on problem-oriented learning and case studies. They highly value our program's training components in litigation and negotiation skills and are aware of the intercultural and interdisciplinary skills training that students receive thanks to their living at close quarters with one another on the student office floor. Our students form world-spanning friendships and professional networks to last a lifetime from which employers also seek to benefit.

Our graduates have obtained outstanding positions in the IP world. They have gone on to work for IP institutions such as various national Patent and Trademark Offices, the WIPO Arbitration and Mediation Centre, or OHIM; for national and international (patent) law firms; for government ministries; for NGOs, think tanks and similar organizations; or for the IP departments of large corporations in the private sector. Others have obtained Ph.D. degrees from the MIPLC or other top-rated universities to pursue academic careers.

The MIPLC provides extensive career development support and coaching services to its students. This includes application workshops and personalized consultation with regard to optimizing cover letters and CVs as well as job-search strategies. The MIPLC regularly receives high-caliber job offers from renowned law firms, businesses, and universities.

To facilitate contacts with potential employers, the European Intellectual Property Institutes Network (EIPIN), of which MIPLC is a member, organizes an annual job fair. At the job fair, (patent) law firms, in-house IP departments, technology transfer agencies, and others introduce themselves and present their available positions. Employers may also schedule one-on-one interviews with students on the basis of CVs that students have provided in advance, and there is ample opportunity for students and employers to meet and talk on an informal basis.

The pooled contacts of the four MIPLC partners cover all areas of IP and all parts of the world. This is particularly true for the Max Planck Institute which, thanks to countless visiting scholars from all over the world, has built up an extensive international IP network. The partners also have numerous contacts with German and international companies. On this basis, the Center can effectively support individual career goals, and the MIPLC Managing Board members and faculty are more than happy to help qualified graduates in their job search, whether by issuing letters of recommendation or by establishing direct contacts with potential employers.

MIPLC students have full access to the Career Development Office of the George Washington University Law School, which is especially helpful for students from the US.

After the first semester, students may complete an optional four-week internship at an IP institution, an IP law firm, or a corporate IP department. Additional internship opportunities are available after the program's completion. An internship gives students the opportunity to apply their classroom knowledge to a real-life setting and to develop additional research, writing, interviewing, and counseling skills. Furthermore, they will be able to make valuable contacts for their future careers. The MIPLC has an extensive network of internship sponsors, and will organize internships for interested students. Many of our internship sponsors have been offering positions for many years and have consistently been impressed with our students' qualifications and skills. A sizeable number of students were hired by their internship sponsor after the completion of their studies.

MIPLC graduates who would like to study for a Ph.D. have the following "in-house" options:

• The MIPLC Ph.D. Program offers Ph.D. scholarships to a strictly limited number of MIPLC students each year. Interested students will be requested to submit research proposals during the academic year.
  This option is available to MIPLC graduates only. We regret to be unable to make any exceptions.
• MIPLC students and graduates are welcome to apply for admission to the International Max Planck Research School for Competition and Innovation (IMPRS-CI).
  Please contact the IMPRS-CI directly for enquiries and applications.
• Ph.D. scholaships are also available at the Max Planck Institute for Intellectual Property and Competition Law.

In addition, MIPLC students are free to apply for Ph.D. programs at any other university in Germany or abroad.