Hi, I'm an intellectual property lawyer focusing mainly on litigation (i.e. courtroom stuff) but with some prosecution (i.e. sitting at a desk dealing with patent and trade-mark applications). I'm on physicsforums.com purely out of my lay interest in physics (which, as you can see from my posts, is extremely "lay"!).
If you have 8 years of physics education (I'm assuming you have at least a Masters, if not a phD), you will be an attractive candidate for a job with a law firm as a "patent agent trainee". This means that you'll start dealing with patent applications, and perhaps try your hand at drafting them, while you study for the patent agent exam. The firm will pay your full salary during this period, and will pay for the exam prep, and the exam itself. I STRONGLY urge you to go this route rather than being a patent agent. I believe a patent agent will only make about $50K/year in the US (about the same in Canada). A patent agent trainee at a law firm, however, will make the same money as a lawyer of same vintage - typically starting at around $90 - $100K/year, and increasing by intervals of about $15K per year. Your hours will also be quite reasonable (basically 9 to 5) - you won't be working the kind of hours that the corporate lawyers work. At most firms, you will also be eligible for partnership, just like the lawyers. A first year partner will typically make somewhere around $300K/year. As you build your practice base, this can escalate very quickly, given the large amount of routine involved in patent prosecution (for example, payment of "maintenance fees", where your secretary does all the work, and you bill your 0.3 hours a pop - multiply that by, say, a hundred applications and you're in the money!).
As far as hating the work, yeah, it's pretty crappy work (that's why I do litigation rather than prosecution). But, I have to tell you, it's a helluvalot better than most jobs in the pure sciences. I was reading over Zapper's piece titled "So, you want to be a physicist", and all I kept thinking was "thank God I abandoned my study of physics and went to law school!"
Anyway, I'm rambling. Bottom line: shoot off applications to the various law firms in your jurisdiction. I would focus on the ones that practice purely intellectual property ("IP") law (these are called "IP boutiques"). Just google IP firms and whatever city you’re interested in, and a whole bunch of firms should pop up. You should send dozens of applications, because most will probably reject you, no matter how good you are (I personally applied to about 150 firms before getting my current job).
I'm happy to provide you with any further info if you'd like it.
