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Top schools for IP law

Posted: Sat Oct 29, 2016 10:37 am
by BobBoblaw
Hello all,
I wanted to consult the TLS hive mind as to which schools have a reputation for particularly strong IP programs. I'm really only considering T1 schools, T14 preferably. I would be going into the 'hard IP' subfield (patent litigation and prosecution as opposed to copyright/trademark), and would be focusing on biotech FWIW.

Re: Top schools for IP law

Posted: Sat Oct 29, 2016 12:08 pm
by Nebby
So long as you have the technical background necessary, any T14 school would suffice

Re: Top schools for IP law

Posted: Sat Oct 29, 2016 12:28 pm
by postard
Nebby wrote:So long as you have the technical background necessary, any T14 school would suffice
Which, for biotech, could likely need to be more than a B.S.

Re: Top schools for IP law

Posted: Sat Oct 29, 2016 12:36 pm
by BobBoblaw
postard wrote:
Nebby wrote:So long as you have the technical background necessary, any T14 school would suffice
Which, for biotech, could likely need to be more than a B.S.

I do have a PhD in the life sciences from an ivy league, so I think I'm set there...

Re: Top schools for IP law

Posted: Sun Oct 30, 2016 3:00 pm
by existentialcrisis
Nebby wrote:So long as you have the technical background necessary, any T14 school would suffice

Re: Top schools for IP law

Posted: Sun Oct 30, 2016 4:46 pm
by desperate4lawschool
Top IP schools don't necessarily translate to T14 school.

If you're really adamant about T14 school, you're only left with Berkeley, Stanford, and NYU. I went to law school part-time, so GW was the best option.

Re: Top schools for IP law

Posted: Sat Nov 12, 2016 2:17 am
by postard
BobBoblaw wrote:
postard wrote:
Nebby wrote:So long as you have the technical background necessary, any T14 school would suffice
Which, for biotech, could likely need to be more than a B.S.

I do have a PhD in the life sciences from an ivy league, so I think I'm set there...
Santa Clara also has a pretty good part time program, which would let you try out prosecution to get a sense of whether you want to focus on that versus litigation.

Re: Top schools for IP law

Posted: Sat Nov 12, 2016 9:10 am
by cavalier1138
postard wrote:
BobBoblaw wrote:
postard wrote:
Nebby wrote:So long as you have the technical background necessary, any T14 school would suffice
Which, for biotech, could likely need to be more than a B.S.

I do have a PhD in the life sciences from an ivy league, so I think I'm set there...
Santa Clara also has a pretty good part time program, which would let you try out prosecution to get a sense of whether you want to focus on that versus litigation.
Santa Clara will also give you the chance to learn more about bankruptcy, when you graduate with up to $260k of debt and don't get a job as a lawyer.

Please stop.

Re: Top schools for IP law

Posted: Mon Dec 12, 2016 3:46 am
by jbagelboy
desperate4lawschool wrote:Top IP schools don't necessarily translate to T14 school.

If you're really adamant about T14 school, you're only left with Berkeley, Stanford, and NYU. I went to law school part-time, so GW was the best option.
No. this is dumb. Don't listen to this person.

Stanford and Berkeley are best known for tech related scholarship and clinical work, but Duke and Columbia both have prominent faculty and reputations in IP law, and it's not like you'll be IP-starved from any T14. I'm sure qualified Yale students find a way of squeezing into IP.

Re: Top schools for IP law

Posted: Wed Dec 14, 2016 1:02 pm
by First Offense
Just go to the best T14 you can for the money. All of them can break into IP without much of a problem assuming you have the qualifications.

Re: Top schools for IP law

Posted: Wed Dec 14, 2016 1:24 pm
by UVA2B
jbagelboy wrote:
desperate4lawschool wrote:Top IP schools don't necessarily translate to T14 school.

If you're really adamant about T14 school, you're only left with Berkeley, Stanford, and NYU. I went to law school part-time, so GW was the best option.
No. this is dumb. Don't listen to this person.

Stanford and Berkeley are best known for tech related scholarship and clinical work, but Duke and Columbia both have prominent faculty and reputations in IP law, and it's not like you'll be IP-starved from any T14. I'm sure qualified Yale students find a way of squeezing into IP.
This. Too often people equate the university's strength in tech/engineering/etc. to mean it will also be strong in IP in the law school. While your credentials with your specific tech background will be important (as noted before, possibly even more important than the law school in some instances), there is no correlation between the engineering school and coinciding IP strength in the law school. Go to the best school you can for the cheapest amount paid and praise the gods of patents that you have a bit of a leg up in hiring because you're an intellectual minority in law school and have training in a valuable skill.