IIPSJ Programs

IIPSJ, Inc., sponsors a variety of programs aimed at addressing social justice concerns involving IP. Programs seek to increase minority and underrepresented groups in the practicing IP bar, to consider legal issues with social justice implications, to use IP to empower creators and inventors in minority and marginalized communities, and to serve as a catalyst for action by others in each of these areas.

July 29, 2009, IIPSJ & Google present: "Equalizing Access to Knowledge"

Keynote Address: David Drummond, Senior Vice President, Corporate Development and Chief Legal Officer, Google Inc.

Panel Discussion, featuring:
Lateef Mtima, Professor of Law and the Founder and Director of the Institute for Intellectual Property and Social Justice at the Howard University School of Law
Wade Henderson, President and CEO of the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights (LCCR)
Charles Brown, Esq., Advisor to the President of the National Federation of the Blind
Brent Wilkes, National Executive Director for the League of United Latin American Citizens
Rhea Ballard-Thrower, Director, Law Library, Howard University School of Law

IIPSJ CLE

One of IIPSJ's principal objectives is to promote diversity among IP practitioners by working to expand the opportunities for minority attorneys to enter and distinguish themselves in the field. The IIPSJ CLE programs help HUSL alumni and other practitioners develop and maintain expertise in IP practice and provide opportunities for experienced minority IP lawyers to demonstrate their expertise to an audience they might not otherwise reach. The IIPSJ CLE programs also provide networking opportunities for lawyers from diverse groups including attorneys from private practice, from government, from the judiciary, and from academia.

The IIPSJ CLE programs also seek to advance social justice by highlighting social justice concerns in emerging IP issues. Through the CLE programs IIPSJ stimulates practical and scholarly discourse on questions of disparity in access to and use of information technology and problems of institutionalized racial and economic inequity related to intellectual property.

IIPSJ IP Empowerment Summit

On March 4, 2009, the Institute of Intellectual Property and Social Justice (IIPSJ) will conduct its first national IIPSJ IP Empowerment Summit, at the Howard University School of Law. The IP Empowerment Summit will bring together a diverse group of IP professionals, including IP lawyers from private practice, in-house counsel, and academia, to collaborate with legislators and public interest and community activists to devise strategies for community development built around artistic works and technological innovation.

IIPSJ at HUSL

IIPSJ, Inc.'s largest program is at Howard University School of Law (IIPSJ at HUSL or IIPSJ at Howard). Programs at HUSL include:

IP Students Association

The Howard University School of Law Intellectual Property Student Association (IPSA) was established fall semester of 2003 as a student-run link to the Howard University School of Law Institute of Intellectual Property and Social Justice (IIPSJ). IPSA's purpose is to promote equal representation of underrepresented groups in the IP bar:

  • By increasing the pool of qualified IP lawyers of color in the marketplace;
  • By actively promoting the practice of IP in its various forms; and
  • By encouraging law students with or without technical backgrounds
    • To learn more about the practice of IP law; and
    • To pursue IP practice as a legal career.

IPSA works to accomplish these objectives by fostering relationships with IIPSJ, with other intellectual property student associations, with judges, and with practicing intellectual property attorneys.