Recommended Citation
Robert W. Gomulkiewicz, Intellectual Property, Innovation, and the Future: Toward a Better Model for Educating Leaders in Intellectual Property Law, 64 SMU L. Rev. 1161 (2011), https://digitalcommons.law.uw.edu/faculty-articles/69
Publication Title
SMU Law Review
Document Type
Article
Abstract
Intellectual property (IP) sits at the center of the global economy. Today, producers and users of intellectual property come from both developed and developing nations. Intellectual property matters as much to China and India as it does to Germany and the United States. This reality has driven a monumental demand for lawyers who have expertise in intellectual property law. These lawyers are the new leaders in intellectual property law.
The global demand for intellectual property law-trained lawyers triggered a "big bang" in the creation of advanced intellectual property law programs (IP Programs) at American law schools. The new leaders in intellectual property law from around the globe now gather and learn together in these IP Programs. This Article describes the "big bang" in advanced intellectual property law programs and the nature of the academic programs that have evolved in its aftermath.
The Article argues that by delivering on many of the curricular reforms proposed by the Carnegie Report on Educating Lawyers, IP Programs can better educate these new leaders, and the Article presents a blueprint for doing so. The Article concludes that law schools should embrace their role as a gathering place for the new leaders in IP law and, in the process, become a forum to more deeply consider a variety of perspectives on the productive and just use of intellectual property.