Role Overview
Mercor is partnering with leading AI labs on Project Atlas — an initiative to build realistic enterprise environments that frontier AI agents are trained and evaluated in. We're seeking experienced intellectual-property attorneys from AmLaw 100/200 firms and Fortune 500 in-house IP teams to recreate the digital workspaces they navigate every day and design the tasks that genuinely challenge state-of-the-art AI.
You'll bring your expertise in patent prosecution, trademark portfolio management, trade-secret protection, and IP litigation or licensing to build a high-fidelity environment that mirrors the tools, files, and client-engagement workflows of sophisticated IP practice — and then author tasks grounded in the matters you actually handle today.
Key Responsibilities
- Build a realistic digital workspace centered on the Drive folders you use day-to-day — the client memos, patent / trademark drafts, prior-art search results, opinion letters, licensing agreements, docket printouts, and email threads that reflect how you actually organize your work — with some representation of the platforms that support it (e.g., Westlaw / LexisNexis, HotDocs, Relativity)
- Design multi-step tasks grounded in your real workflows — structured around end-to-end client engagements (origination, prosecution/strategy, ongoing counseling, enforcement/litigation) — that require navigating multiple apps, files, and stakeholders in a way that meaningfully challenges frontier AI agents
- Collaborate with other IP attorneys in your field to design the environment, shape task scope, and review each other's scenarios for realism and rigor
- Work asynchronously with research teams to refine task designs and evaluation criteria for IP-law agent benchmarks
- Contribute to frontier AI research and benchmarking — the work you produce directly informs how leading labs train and evaluate the next generation of AI systems
Ideal Qualifications
- JD and active bar admission; USPTO registration for patent practitioners
- 3+ years of full-time IP experience at an AmLaw 100/200 firm or Fortune 500 in-house IP team
- Background in one or more areas such as:
- Patent prosecution (utility, design, PCT) — tech, life sciences, or mechanical
- Trademark prosecution and portfolio management
- IP litigation (district court, PTAB, ITC) or post-grant proceedings
- IP licensing, due diligence, and transactions
- Trade-secret and IP enforcement strategy
- Day-to-day use of Westlaw / LexisNexis, HotDocs or Contract Express, and Relativity
- Strong analytical thinking and writing — able to translate legal workflows into structured task specs
Compensation Note
- Task Completion Pay: Competitive and based on task quality (~$1,750 – $2,150 per completed task, subject to change as the project evolves)
- Performance Bonus: Top performers receive a weekly bonus incentive on top of their per task rate!
- Hourly Opportunity: Top performers may be invited to transition to an hourly compensation model based on sustained quality and throughput.