legal
Posted Aug 11, 2025Legal Counsel, Patent Attorney
at Mistral AI
Paris, FranceOn-site
Responsibilities
- Advise on what to retain as a trade secret and what to file as a patent application.
- Draft invention memos based on interviews, internal product documentation, and scientific papers. Translate complex technical ideas into clear, defensible disclosures. Patent Drafting and Prosecution:
- Prepare independent claims and manage outside counsel in the drafting and global prosecution of patent applications.
- Supervise office action responses and ensure consistent, high-quality filings. Inventor Recognition Program:
- Administer and evolve internal inventor incentives, including bonuses, awards, and visibility initiatives. M&A Due Diligence:
- Support IP due diligence in M&A and strategic investment transactions, including assessment of the IP portfolio, freedom-to-operate risks, and competitive positioning of targets. Processes and Tools:
- Develop and maintain internal documentation, workflows, and inventor education on the patent process. Build dashboards to track filings, deadlines, and portfolio metrics.
- Recommend and manage internal IP tools, databases, and docketing systems. Oversee analytics and reporting dashboards for the IP portfolio. Portfolio Strategy and Budget Management:
- Track and manage IP budget and outside counsel performance. Open Source and Defensive Alliances:
- Align patent strategy with Mistral’s open source objectives.
- Evaluate and recommend participation in patent pools, defensive patent networks, or other industry alliances that support open innovation while protecting core assets. Cross-Functional Collaboration:
Requirements
- About Mistral At Mistral AI, we believe in the power of AI to simplify tasks, save time, and enhance learning and creativity.
- We democratize AI through high-performance, optimized, open-source and cutting-edge models, products and solutions.
- Our comprehensive AI platform is designed to meet enterprise needs, whether on-premises or in cloud environments.
- Our offerings include le Chat, the AI assistant for life and work.
- We are a dynamic, collaborative team passionate about AI and its potential to transform society.
- Join us to be part of a pioneering company shaping the future of AI.
- See more about our culture on https://mistral.ai/careers.
- You will work closely with our world-class research, engineering, and product teams to protect groundbreaking inventions, shape the future of open-source AI, and support the company’s global growth.
- Why Join Us? Work at the forefront of AI innovation: Collaborate with top minds in the field to protect transformative technologies.
- Make a tangible impact: Your patents will help define AI standards and secure Mistral AI’s strategic assets.
- Autonomy and bold thinking: Join a fast-growing scale-up where your expertise will shape IP culture and key processes.
- Ethical mission: Use patents to advance open science and responsible AI. Key
- Ideal Candidate Profile You Must Have ... Patent expertise: Proven
- experience drafting patents in complex software/AI domains.
- Deep understanding of AI patent eligibility (US & Europe).
- Experience in licensing or litigation (a plus for assessing patent quality). GenAI literacy: Hands-on
- experience with LLMs (e.g., building agents, technical projects).
- Ability to decode and articulate complex technical concepts (model architectures, training methods).
- Coding skills (Python, etc.) are a strong plus. Law firm management:
- Talent for explaining IP concepts to non-legal audiences. Proactive and resourceful:
- Business acumen: Understanding of how patents drive value for a scale-up.
- Open-source knowledge: Familiarity with open-source licenses and their intersection with patents.
- Experience assessing IP in tech transactions. Languages
- Fluent English (required for legal/technical writing).French (a plus for day-to-day collaboration).
Additional details
- Our technology is designed to integrate seamlessly into daily working life.
- Our diverse workforce thrives in competitive environments and is committed to driving innovation.
- Our teams are distributed between France, USA, UK, Germany and Singapore.
- Role Summary As our Patent Attorney, you will be at the heart of our innovation strategy, transforming cutting-edge research into a robust and strategic intellectual property portfolio.
- The legal team currently comprises 10 persons across Paris and Palo Alto, covering a spectrum of competences across compliance-regulatory, IP, contracts and corporate.
- Proactively engage with researchers, engineers, and product managers to identify and prioritize patentable inventions.
- Contribute to the development of a global IP strategy aligned with corporate goals.
- Experience selecting, managing, and optimizing external patent firms. Collaboration with inventors:
- Self-driven to anticipate needs, engage stakeholders, and document processes. In addition, the perfect candidate would have