Are patent attorney job opportunities growing or declining?

Are jobs in this industry on the rise? Are there any sub-sectors that are growing?

Where are the jobs? Which places have the most patent attorney opportunities?

Patent Litigation job are in demand.

Patent Prosecution jobs are declining as large companies have cut budgets and are now handling most work in-house as oppose to out sourcing the work. Many companies are looking to hiring in late spring to increase the ranks of their in-house counsel with salaries ranging between $110 - $125k.

Otherwise the only non-in-house patent prosecution positions now available appear to be with small firms in the DC and CA (Orange County)who are looking for lawyers straight out of law school with low salary expectations, hogh GPAs, advanced degrees (Hate to say this but it appears to be true -- new hires tend to be asian or have indian backgrounds likely to attract clients from those counties).

The job market is DISMAL and getting worse every day. I do not reccomend that anyone enters this field as the pay and amount of jobs are declining. I can't find a job either in litigation or prosecution with 8 years experience at any pay or location.

I am a scientist and a registered patent agent. After losing my science job two month ago, I am seeking a way to move into IP field. Could anyone suggest a good path to gain some entry level experience? All ads for IP job out there ask for some experience, even for contract positions. I wonder how people really got started in this field.

So just curious, pretty much everything is terrible in this economy. How does ip law compare to the rest of society as whole?? What percentage of people were fired -- 10%, 30%, 50%??

Also, JD it sounds like things are dismal, but is that due to geography? Would it be easier to get a job near tech centers like MA or CA?