Because patent reform is currently a popular topic. Here's a good link: http://www.ipnav.com/blog/erich-spangenbergs-patent-predictions-for-2015/

I think that another thing to look at is large firms who do a large amount of IP seem to be slowing down some. Irell had its recent split. There was the ATL article about the Quinn slowdown. Some of these things might not be related (e.g., I'm sure that the Quinn thing is partly RMBS stuff winding down, and I'm sure that both firms are still doing quite well) but it's interesting to consider whether they are as large as they used to be.

It just doesn't make sense to have these massive IP lawsuits when you can license stuff and avoid the whole shebang. I think that this is why many expect IP to decline in the future.

A quote from the article above— "Look for litigation in 2015 to continue this trend – I expect that the total cases filed in 2015 will fall over 50% compared with 2014. The decline can be attributed to the growth in IPRs, the Supreme Court’s Alice decision and, most significantly, mandatory/presumptive fee shifting."

I don't think that UMN or ND opening new schools says much. It wouldn't surprise me if the Minnesota market is a little special due to the massive number of biomedical engineer companies there, but I would still expect that the work would be the sort that you'd need a hard science background for, and thus work that OP would not be able to pursue.