Inventing stuff is fun and working with inventors is just as great. By and large, the practice of intellectual property law has been my favorite over the years because the clients are typically happy. Usually no one is fighting over anything in court, inventors are pleased to see their brainchild come to life, and everyone is excited about the impact this new innovation will have on the world.

The record scratch in the invention process often comes when it’s time to find a lawyer and go through the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) process. The USPTO is the government agency tasked with issuing patents in the United States.

Lawyers are hard to choose, and it can take us months or longer to draft an application. Then, the USPTO process takes about two years to get through, not including the staggered fees you have to pay for the next 20-ish years if your invention is approved/issued. All the excitement can start to wane if you’re not careful in picking the right patent attorney.

Warning: I try not to be a doom and gloom type of messenger, but the reality is that finding a good patent lawyer for your invention is tough. It can be even tougher if you’re a woman. Women have a significantly harder time getting patents issued through the patent office. In fact, only 4% of patents issued by the USPTO in the last ten years name a woman inventor.

And, if you’re looking for a female patent attorney, only about 25% of all registered patent attorneys and agents are women, so you may have to dig deep to find us (and let’s not get started on intersectionality).

If you need more proof on these challenges, check out the below talk by Sara Blakely, the now-billionaire founder of Spanx. Sara recounts her experience trying to first find a woman patent attorney, and then any patent attorney, who could help her get her first Spanx patent.

Because of these harsh facts, it is sooooo important that you hire a lawyer you trust and clearly understand.

I hope this article helps you, my inventor sistren, make a series of good, grounded decisions when they are searching for a patent lawyer. There’s no way I can cover everything here, but here are four major considerations if you’re searching for a patent lawyer.

1. Avoid being scammed

There are a number of “invention marketer” or “invention promoter” companies out there who may take your money and leave you with little to show for it. The USPTO has published complaints against companies including Davison Design, Invent Company, Invent Help, Harvey Reese Associates, and World Patent Marketing.

Here are the USPTO warning signs to look for if you get wrangled into a call/discussion that seems sketchy:

For more, check out the below articles on this topic:

• United States Patent and Trademark Office: Scam Prevention
• Inventors Suing InventHelp Want to Know Why George Foreman Represents the Company
• Revisiting World Patent Marketing: The Multimillion-Dollar Scam Matt Whitaker Was Neck Deep In
• Invention Services: Finding Valuable Services & Avoiding Scams

Please, please don’t get scammed–not only could you lose thousands upon thousands of dollars, you could also lose the rights in your invention completely.

2. Explore legitimate, low-cost options

The baseline fact is that obtaining a patent is EXPENSIVE. You can expect to spend between $8,000 and $10,000 for a quality utility patent application (the most common type). This will probably not include the cost of what is called the “prosecution” phase, which is a time period where your lawyer will go back and forth with the patent office on your application’s details.

Check out the diagrams below on cost estimations for patent applications–both are a little dated but still provide pretty accurate guidelines:

APPLICATION PHASE COSTS

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PATENT COST DIAGRAM FOR PATENT APPLICATION + PROSECUTION PHASE

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I know the numbers seem bleak for a lot of people. $10,000 is a lot of money–most of us don’t just have that kind of cash sitting around. Because of, well, life, I want to share three low-cost resources with you that will help you get started if you need a little time to get your money together for a full-blown patent application.

• You can always file your patent application yourself–there’s nothing in the law to prevent an inventor from doing this. As I’ve written about elsewhere, however, this process is very complex and convoluted. I’d be weary of going at it alone. If you’re going to try, the hands-down best book to guide you through the process is NOLO’s Patent It Yourself.

• The USPTO offers two low-cost/free programs to assist inventors. The first is the Law School Clinic Certification Program,which allows more senior law students to work on patent applications under the strict guidance of a licensed patent lawyer. Law schools don’t typically charge for these kinds of services. You may end up paying a few hundred dollars in USPTO filing fees, etc., but that pales in comparison to law firm fees. The law school may also have a larger pool of diverse students/faculty to pull from. The list of participating law schools is ever-changing, but you can find the full list by clicking here. This is a great opportunity if you’re in the vicinity of one of the participating schools.

• The second low-cost/free USPTO program is the Patent Pro Bono Project, which matches inventors with registered patent agents or attorneys who volunteer their time without charging the inventor. You’ll still have to pay USPTO filing fees, but that is probably a few hundred dollars. You can find out if your state/region has a program at this website. This is also a great opportunity if you’re near a good program. My anecdotal observation is that more women volunteer for this kind of thing than men–I don’t have any data or research to back this up though.

Patent Pro Bono Coverage Map

For more, you might want to watch some of the below USPTO video–it is dry as all get out (they are known for this), but there’s some great information buried in it about low-cost/free options for cash-strapped inventors:

3. If you can afford it, hire someone

I know it may be uncomfortable to fork over thousands of dollars for a patent application that may or may not be approved by the patent office. This is another reason to carefully choose your patent lawyer. The only thing worse than giving someone $10,000 to file a patent application is giving someone $10,000 to file a patent application that isn’t ultimately approved by the USPTO (or, getting an application approved that isn’t worth the paper its typed on).

This is why I suggest hiring an experienced patent lawyer if you can afford it. To find one, try the following three suggestions, in addition to your obligatory Google searching:

• If you know any lawyers, ask them to refer you to someone they trust. Word of mouth can often be the best way to find a trustworthy patent lawyer.

• Search your state’s or city’s bar association website for a lawyer directory that lists attorneys by practice. Bar associations are professional organizations for licensed attorneys–the easiest thing to do is perform a Google search using [your city/state] + bar association.

• Search the USPTO’s directory of licensed patent agents and attorneys. To represent an inventor at the USPTO, a person must take and pass a special exam and have certain qualifications. Generally speaking, patent agents are people with science/engineering/technical degrees but no law degree, and patent attorneys have a law degree. Both agents and attorneys can represent patent applicants in the USPTO. The USPTO has comprehensive records of this group because of the special exam all parties have to take.

4. Educate Yourself

Understanding the patent application and patent prosecution phase is hard. The USPTO gives a mandatory exam on these topics to every person who wants to file and prosecute patent applications. Even though nearly all test-takers have science/engineering/tech undergraduate and graduate degrees, and in many instances, a law degree, the pass rate still hovers around 50% or so. This just goes to show you how tough it is to really understand all the nuances of patent practice.

If you’re planning to file a patent application, either on your own or with help, take time to read up on the general process so that you’re not surprised later. You will, at minimum, want to understand the basics of what is patentable, what the application includes, and what the process will look like once the application is filed.

NOLO publishes some of the best resources I’ve personally experienced in terms of clear, step-by-step layperson instructions. If you can’t afford to buy all of them, head over to your local library and check them out!

There are other things I could mention in this article, but it is getting pretty long. I’ll explore more later. In the interim, are you thinking of patenting an invention? Already been through the process? Drop a note in the comments section and let me hear about your experience!