| IIPSJ | Institute of Intellectual Property and Social Justice |
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IIPSJ supports the HUSL IP Student Association (IPSA) as well as the HUSL Sports and Entertainment Law Student Association (SELSA). IIPSJ and its directors encourage and assist students to organize and participate in extramural activities relating to the practice of intellectual property law and the mission of the Institute. In particular, IIPSJ assists HUSL students develop relationships with individual intellectual property law firms, practitioners, and professional organizations, and establish student affiliates and memberships of the relevant professional organizations and entities.
IIPSJ, Inc., and its partners sponsors a number of IP internships each year.
IIPSJ at HUSL sponsors an annual fall judicial clerkship conference for minority students at HUSL: The Robert E. Wone Judicial Clerkship & Internship Conference
An especially valuable opportunity for HUSL IP students arises through HUSL’s participation as one of five Washington DC metropolitan area law schools affiliated with the Giles S. Rich Inn of Court for the Federal Circuit. The Giles S. Rich Inn of Court is professional organization dedicated to advancing the principals of civility and service in the legal profession. One of the Inn’s major priorities is providing mentorship and support to newly admitted attorneys and law students interested in IP practice. Each year the Inn invites the participating law schools to select up to four students to participate as Pupil members in all of the Inn’s programs and activities. In 2004, the Inn supplemented its traditional Mentoring and Scholarship Program by establishing a specific Law School Mentor Program through which an experienced IP attorney volunteers to serve as a special mentor to the Pupil members from one of the participating law schools. For the 2004-05 Academic Year, John F. Witherspoon, a patent attorney in DC, served as the GSR Law School Mentor to the HUSL GSR Pupils, providing guidance and support in connection with a variety of both GSR and HUSL IP Student Association programs and activities for law students.
John F. Witherspoon is a law professor at George Mason University School of Law. For many years he was the director of George Mason's Intellectual Property Law Program. In addition to being a prolific scholar of articles and books on patent law, Professor Witherspoon practices patent law in Washington, D.C. He previously worked in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office as an examiner-in-chief and as a member of the USPTO Board of Appeals. He clerked for the namesake of the Inn of Court for the Federal Circuit, the Honorable Giles S. Rich, U.S. Court of Customs and Patent Appeals.
In the future the Institute plans to work with members of the professional and academic community to introduce undergraduate students pursuing degrees in science, engineering, and similar disciplines to the opportunity to pursue a career in intellectual property law practice.
Last update: March 11, 2008