The Next Big Idea: The Expanding Intellectual Property Concentration at SLU LAW

07/01/2023

Professor Yvette Joy Liebesman is SLU LAW’s enthusiastic and devoted Intellectual Property concentration faculty advisor. Although her expertise is apparent in her classroom, Liebesman wasn’t always the IP expert that she is now. In fact, it wasn’t until later in her life that she decided to pursue a life in the law.  

“I didn’t go to law school until I was 38,” said Liebesman. “I had various careers. I had been a professional photographer; I’ve worked in pharmaceutical and biotech companies. Eventually, I decided I needed something more challenging. So, I went to law school, and I had some exposure to IP from there and it was just what I was most interested in.” 

Professor Liebesman earned her J.D. at Georgetown University Law Center in 2006. Not long after, Liebesman joined the faculty at SLU LAW to help establish the Intellectual Property concentration. 

“We started in Fall 2010. [The concentration has] grown quite a number in the last few years. There’s wonderful faculty that have come and gone along the way.” 

Since she took on the role of faculty advisor, she’s guided over a decade of IP students. Outside of her role as a mentor and professor, Liebesman is known for her expertise. She lends her knowledge to the press regarding copyright and trademark news in the media. She once was interviewed by CBS News and the ABA Law Journal regarding tattoo artist Victor Whitmill’s lawsuit against Warner Bros. over a recreation of Mike Tyson’s distinctive facial tattoo in the movie ‘Hangover II’. She has provided expert testimony on several IP-related lawsuits.  

A leader in the field, earlier this year Liebesman planned and co-sponsored the annual Works-In-Progress Intellectual Property Colloquium alongside the University of Missouri School of Law. The colloquium brought dozens of IP scholars to Scott Hall to review works in progress covering trending topics in the field of intellectual property.  

Liebesman, a prolific scholar herself, has recently published Offensive Mark Owners Have an Enforcement Problem, where she reviews Supreme Court trademark cases and First Amendment rights. Liebesman’s writing talents were recognized in 2013 with the International Trademark Association’s Ladas Award for writing excellence on the subject of trademarks and related matters.   

Along with her intellect, expertise, and skills, Liebesman is mentioned to be the heart of the Intellectual Property concentration. Although she has done the bulk of the work, she shares the achievements with her students. Each class brings in new ideas for both the concentration and the correlated student organization.  

“Our attitude is if a student wants to do something ... we want them to run with it. We do our best not to take ownership of everything. And the person who is going to do it best is the person whose idea it is and who is excited about it,” Liebesman said. “It’s also about teaching them the skills of leadership. Every year we are lucky to have people who are really interested in [SIPLA] and come up with great ideas. We just say: ‘what do you need from us and what can we do to help you?’” 

Liebesman is proud of her students’ success at SLU LAW and beyond; their accomplishments include three SLU LAW IP concentration students who took first place in the 2017 International Patent Drafting Competition. Yvette Joy Liebesman’s dedication, intellect, and remarkable ability to elevate student potential is one of the major highlights of attending the Intellectual Property concentration. 

Faculty

The foundation of the Intellectual Property field is working with clients, individuals, and businesses with creative minds and great ideas. Those on the other side of the desk often have the same character. It doesn’t take long to realize that the growth of the concentration is due to the ingenuity of those involved.  

Professor Erika Cohn has been a member of SLU LAW’s IP team since 2013, when she proposed a course called Intellectual Property Law Research. Cohn is a former director of the Vincent C. Immel Law Library. Having taken the role of associate general counsel for IP at Anheuser-Busch, Cohn remains a member of the SLU LAW team as an adjunct professor. Cohn’s dedication to helping the IP concentration prevail has shown through her teachings. “IP as an area of the law is, and has been, growing. There is an incentive for students to join a growing field and an area where there are more and more opportunities,” she said.

It is common for students who take the concentration to come from various backgrounds and move forward to unique opportunities that fit their personal aptitudes. Students of all ages come into the classroom from former careers in STEM, the arts, or general studies, proving that there is no pre-requisite besides the desire to learn. Countless paths have created intellectual property attorneys. 

“Something that’s exciting about teaching in this area is that we have students who come from prior careers — that law isn’t their first path. And when you have people who come from unique backgrounds, you have students who can see the issues from different perspectives, and that’s always great for the classroom,” Professor Cohn says. 

The newest addition to the teaching of Intellectual Property at Saint Louis University School of Law is Professor Michael Sinha. Professor Sinha has a background in medicine and research and completed a combined M.D./J.D. program at Southern Illinois University. He's taught at both Harvard Medical School and Northeastern University School of Law. As an assistant professor in the Center for Health Law Studies, Sinha uses his dual background to teach the Patent Law course at SLU LAW. 

"Patent law is a natural home for law students who have a background or training in a STEM field and want to integrate their legal training into continued work in those areas. It is a fast-moving field, with cases frequently coming before the United State Supreme Court and Congress continuing to show significant interest in patent reform. After all, patent law is constitutional law: patents are explicitly mentioned in the U.S. Constitution (see Article I, Section 8, Clause 8)!" Professor Sinha said. 

Students

When COVID-19 restrictions lifted, students came back to Scott Hall — and they’ve proved themselves to be eager to get back to work. The Student Intellectual Property Association (SIPLA) has years of student involvement. RJ Whitehill, co-president of SIPLA and 3L, began his time at SLU LAW during the pandemic.

“In my 1L year, we had a lot of COVID limits, so it was hard to get involved. Once we were all back on campus, I got on board,” Whitehill said. “In general, SIPLA has been helpful in getting involved in the field. One thing we try to do in SIPLA is to introduce the field to students and try to make it a bit more personable. A lot of the times we hear: ‘I don’t have a STEM background, so I can’t get into patents,’ but the field is so vast and there are plenty of other opportunities.”

The student leadership of SIPLA organizes activities and hosts guest speakers throughout the year to educate classmates about the rapidly expanding concentration. Students can sign up to have lunch with an active attorney. They form connections, receive advice, and get a look at what it’s like to be out in the field. 

2L Jeffrey Lin came from a background in biology that led him to seek the Intellectual Property concentration. He noted how SIPLA uplifts him when navigating struggles at school. “SIPLA helped me reaffirm my belief and passion that I want to do IP,” Lin said. “SIPLA brings in a lot of attorneys from different backgrounds ... because of that, I got to listen to a lot of patent attorneys talk about what they do, what they like about their responsibilities and the nuances that come with their job.”

SIPLA members benefit from the introduction to current attorneys as well as advice from other classmates. Lin continues: “One thing that I love about being here, is knowing that everyone is willing to give a helping hand. When I was a 1L and trying to get the hang of things, I really relied on older students for advice. They were able to give me a lot of guidance about what classes to take and what internships to go for. So, being able to talk to upperclassmen and know that there are people I can rely on is amazing — especially Professor Liebesman. She’s one of the best professors that I’ve ever had. She’s super helpful. And I think it’s partly because she’s been through what I’m trying to go through.”

The IP team, both faculty and students, at SLU LAW has spearheaded the expansion of the need for Intellectual Property education. The growing department has seen spikes in student attendance on courses such as IP Survey, and involvement in SIPLA. As the need for Intellectual Property expertise grows, keep an eye on SLU LAW affiliates as they bring forth their new ideas into the world of law.