Patent Clinic

The Patent Clinic is a live client clinic regulated by and reporting to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).  The Patent Clinic offers patent related legal services on a pro bono basis to entrepreneurs, small businesses, start-ups, and non-profits.  Students will be provisionally authorized to practice before the USPTO subject to attorney supervision.  The student practitioners are introduced to actual practice involving clients, case management, and patent filing and prosecution procedures before the USPTO.  Successful graduates will be better prepared to prosecute patent applications before the USPTO and have unique insights for patent litigation.

Clinic participation requires enrollment and participation in weekly class meetings that focus on the lawyering skills and substantive law necessary to effectively represent clients.  In addition to discussing client interviewing and counseling techniques, students will also focus on substantive and procedural areas of law that are relevant to students’ cases and to patents in general, including issues of professional responsibility. Requisites: (1) Law 312 Professional Responsibility and (2) Law 306 Patent Law or Law 307 Intellectual Property.  Must have an undergraduate and/or graduate degree in science (e.g., biology, chemistry, physics, etc.), engineering, and/or computer science.