Law firms are not at all immune to this pandemic since their clients aren’t. Most law firms have cut partner pay, and cut the pay of associates also. They are also firing and furloughing partners and associates. We all know that most of Society cares not that lawyers suffer, economically that is. But there is a class of lawyers, actually lawyers-to-be, that we should have sympathy and empathy for: incoming first year associates. The Class of 2020 will have a very tough time, even tougher than the Classes of the last downturn in 2008 and 2009. The associates that suffered then are likely partners now, and have more empathy.
In the digital age, it’s curious that so many online educational opportunities exist, yet very few provide a legal education. To meet this growing need, The University of New Hampshire Franklin Pierce School of Law just launched its Hybrid JD Program for professionals interested in intellectual property, technology, and information law. “Some IP professionals who are working full-time are not in a position to quit their existing jobs and move to New Hampshire, but I believe that they should still have access to a top-ranked program in IP,” said Megan Carpenter, Dean of UNH Franklin Pierce School of Law. “Through this program, we are making a legal education in IP accessible to those who would not otherwise be able to get it…. This program is the first hybrid JD approved by the ABA in a specialized area of law, [and] the entire program is carefully curated to train the IP leaders of tomorrow.”
Mr. Donald Dunner, a partner in Finnegan, Henderson, Farabow, Garrett & Dunner, LLP in Washington, D.C. has accepted JMLS’ offer to chair the Advisory Board of the School’s Center for Intellectual Property, Information and Privacy Law. In accepting the position of Chair of the Advisory Board Dunner stated, “John Marshall is one of the preeminent centers of legal education in the IP field. I look forward to assisting it in that role.”
Shontavia Johnson, professor of law and the Kern Family Chair in Intellectual Property Law, took over as director of Drake Law School’s Intellectual Property Law Center on July 1.
The App Developers Alliance is joining with law schools nationwide to help startups battle patent trolls. The Law School Patent Troll Defense Network is a consortium of law school clinics that will provide free legal representation to small app developers and other entrepreneurs that have been threatened or sued by patent trolls. Clinics participating in the Network may also represent the Alliance in major patent cases affecting developers and the app community.