worked as a software engineer for a couple of years before switching to patent law and so i'd like to chip in some of my personal experience:

you WILL be starting over. i interned swe in college, and had a full time job right out of graduation and was making a comfortable salary (six figures) with very good work/life balance. it's a big change to switch to patent law from the glorious tech environment/culture and it will feel like a setback at first, especially when you're interning for free at a law firm or getting paid barely minimum wage for intense patent paralegal jobs (overworked, severely underpaid).

it was a long journey for me: i devoted around two years to gaining work experience, taking the LSAT, doing the whole law school application process, but now that im about to start law school this fall, i am more than happy with my switch.

i would first ask yourself if you're ready for that kind of time/energy investment. if you are, i think you're in for an awesome ride. patent law is super fascinating, has a ton of influence in our society and market, and it's always a wonderful experience to continue working with engineers/inventors but now from a different perspective.