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Late to the party here, but interesting thread! Just for some background, I spent 20 years in engineering moving into various increasing steps of engineering management. In 2000 I went back to school full time while continuing to work full time to get my MBA. In parallel with that I moved out of engineering into operations, and then into program management which is the business management function in the aerospace industry. One of the transitional steps you have to make is overcoming the engineering background when you are trying to land a finance based job. Frankly, the engineering group is viewed by the bean counters as a group of misfits and trouble makers that have to be tolerated because they're a necessary function. While you've achieved much by getting your MSEE, the math ability will be the only thing applicable. It hasn't however taught you anything about FASB standards, SEC rules, general accounting practices, general ledgers, etc. It's all learning the rules from scratch. You will be up against this bias in trying to make your move, plus you will be competing with others your age that went directly into finance and simply have more years experience than you. I admire your ambition and I'm not trying to be discouraging, but it's a tough jump to make.
Moving into patent law could be a very good transition for you because your technical background does bring tremendous value to the position. I currently manage the company IP portfolio as part of my current job and I can tell you I much prefer engaging with a patent agent/attorney who understands the tech as I only have to get them to grasp our inventive material, not teach them all the engineering basics.
WRT your question on the difference between being a registered agent and an attorney, agents are allowed to create and file patents, and represent clients with the USPTO patent agents. Essentially they are the paralegals of the industry. To defend a patent in court or prosecute a patent infringement case, you must be the attorney, and if you are an effective litigator, that is where the big bucks are. :-)
Not intending this to sound like a rant, just some BTDT experience....
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