Future Directions: Miranda Hallett, PhD, Patent Agent
This article was originally published in Results & Discussion, Issue 7, Spring 2018.
By Leslie Sedgeman, Graduate Student
Miranda Hallett, Ph.D., always had a passion for science and law, but wasn’t sure how to combine them. She completed her Ph.D. in Cancer and Developmental Biology at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center in Memphis, TN, before coming to Vanderbilt University to complete a postdoctoral fellowship in the laboratory of Barbara Fingleton, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Pharmacology and Medicine. Through the BRET Office of Career Development, Hallett helped plan events and invite guests to speak about intellectual property and patent law, which allowed her to meet like-minded individuals and helped her demonstrate her commitment to patent law to potential employers. Hallett moved to Maryland in 2015 to take a position as a patent law clerk, and now works as a patent agent at Arnold & Porter in Washington, D.C. Although her days as a patent agent are vastly different from her days as a postdoctoral fellow, she still spends a substantial amount of her time reading scientific papers, which helps her become knowledgeable on topics relevant to her clients’ work and helps her determine whether an invention is novel and non-obvious. I spent some time with Hallett getting a glimpse of a day in her life.
