This summer, Lori was a law clerk at Haralson, Miller, Pitt, Feldman & McAnally, P.L.C. She continues to work part-time with the firm, whose many distinguished Arizona Law alumni include Grace McIlvain ('78; see below). Lori worked on medical malpractice and personal injury cases at the firm, which allowed her to engage her interest in science.

This summer she also was a Student Fellow at Tech Launch Arizona (TLA), established at the U of A in late 2011 to better coordinate the University's vast research enterprise and leverage the impact of University research and innovation by working closely with the technology and business communities. She conducted research on patents and gained experience with the invention licensing aspects of patents -- "something you don't learn much about in law school," she says. "It was very interesting to learn about the inventions -- particularly the medical ones -- by U of A professors, researchers, and students."

Lori is active with the Arizona Law IP community and is secretary of the student-run Arizona Intellectual Property and Cyberlaw Society. Her experiences inside and outside class have made patent litigation an attractive career option, she says. You can connect with Lori on LinkedIn.

Taylor Phillips

 

Taylor highly values his experience working at TLA. "I had taken classes on patent law and understood the idea of novelty in the patent world," Taylor says. "Working at TLA opened my eyes to the entire process that goes into obtaining a patent and taught me lessons I could have never gotten in the classroom." He hopes to work in patent litigation or patent licensing after graduation.

Law Student Fellows at Tech Launch Arizona have included William Bevins (BA '08), far left, who worked at the U of A's Arizona Research Laboratories before law school; Lori Guner, front left; and, back row, second, third, and fourth from left: Taylor Phillips, Nicholas Bielat (BS '10), and Mark Pearcy (BS '12).

Dillon Steadman

Phoenix native and double Wildcat Dillon Steadman (BS, BA '10) holds degrees in molecular and cellular biology as well as Spanish and Portuguese from the U of A.

"I entered Arizona Law with my passion for science intact, and immediately got interested in IP," he says. "My favorite cases to read are medical malpractice and patent cases, because of the science involved. I quickly realized that medical litigation and patent law were two of the intersections between law and science that interested me most."

"I've been fortunate to have Derek Bambauer for both Patent Law and Copyright Law," Dillon says. "Sharing his enthusiasm for those subjects confirmed that IP was the right path for me. I'm especially grateful to him for helping me become a Student Fellow at the TLA, where I got great hands-on patent experience. I researched patents, patent applications, and scientific literature to analyze the feasibility of pursuing a patent for a University-generated invention or technology. I learned patent research skills that I know will be useful in the future."

Dillon also helped launch Arizona Law's IP Society, where he serves as treasurer. He's just begun working part-time at Nguyen & Tarbet, a small, local IP firm. "I've only been there a few weeks, but I've already had the opportunity to do legal research for patent law, specifically on the experimental use doctrine." Dillon, too, is considering a career in patent litigation. You can connect with Dillon on LinkedIn.

The experience Student Fellows gain working at TLA is not only highly educational, but a strong signal to potential employers that these students are ready to move from IP theory to practice.

Derek Bambauer

The collapse of the dot-com economy put an end to his work as a systems engineer at Lotus, a place he loved for "the collegiality, forward-looking values, and geeky culture -- Lotus had many of the qualities that attracted me to Arizona Law," he says.

It was at Lotus that Derek's interest in IP and the Internet first developed. "I'd seen companies grapple with the immense potential and disruptive nature of the Internet firsthand, and I thought it presented fascinating challenges for lawyers," he says. "IP law is one of the areas most affected by the precipitous drop in information costs brought on by ubiquitous, networked computing. And it's an area where people can immediately relate -- it's something that directly affects their daily lives."

Switching from engineering to the law was not a quantum leap, he says. "The two professions are very similar: lawyers and engineers are practical, focused on solving real-world problems and fascinated by detail. I like to think of my current job as combining the best parts of life as a lawyer and life as an engineer."

Derek says he and his wife, Arizona Law Professor Jane Bambauer, had Arizona Law on their radar "the moment we began our job search. The school is a wonderful community: small, caring, and closely knit. I had tried hard to hire Arizona Law Professor Chris Robertson at my prior school when he was on the entry-level market and was really impressed that he chose Arizona Law. So, Jane and I mounted a campaign with the hope that the College of Law would hire us, and we were incredibly fortunate to succeed. It helps, too, that Jane is a Tucson native, so we were well-prepared for summers here."

Derek has come to love Jane's hometown. "I find Tucson to be beautiful -- wonderful old churches and buildings, hip new restaurants, breathtaking scenery, and friendly people. The downtown revitalization is incredibly exciting, and that is where we have chosen to live; it brings some of the energy of Brooklyn or the Bay Area, while staying true to Tucson's roots." (For Tucson's comparison to another hip city -- Portland, Oregon -- read here.)

Like his love of Tucson, Derek's enthusiasm for IP law is contagious, and his students are catching the fever.

"It's an exhilarating area of the law," he says. "I love the interdisciplinary approach to IP at Arizona Law. I get to hang out with Larry Hecker and the Business Law Exchange, brainstorm with teams at the McGuire Center, and talk with University scientists about their inventions. We have an incredibly rich ecosystem for IP and information law here at the University."

You can learn more about Derek at our website.

 Carl Brandt ('95) and Lynn Brandt ('96)

Though from opposite ends of the country -- California and New York -- Carl and Lynn Brandt joined forces while working as engineers on a classified military contract for TRW Aerospace.

"We were working as aerospace engineers in the 1990s, when the industry was downsizing and the work was no longer cutting-edge," Lynn says. "Carl decided to try law school first and convinced me to join him a year later."

Arizona Law held many attractions, she recalls. "We loved that it was a smaller law school associated with a larger University, and all that that offered. We were excited about the people drawn to the law school -- while we were there, we were privileged to see three US Supreme Court Justices, including Chief Justice William Rehnquist, who taught a class that we both took. We loved the location of Tucson, including the beauty of the surrounding area, and, of course, the weather. And we loved that the University of Arizona College of Law was, and continues to be, highly ranked and highly regarded within the legal community."

In the San Jose area, Carl worked as a patent prosecutor at Lowe, Price, LeBlanc & Becker and Hickman Palermo Truong & Becker. Later, he worked at Oracle, where he was part of the team responsible for overseeing and managing Oracle's patent portfolio and directing the patent prosecution with outside counsel.

In 2003, he and Lynn moved to Redmond, Washington, where he began working at Microsoft. He advanced from Microsoft's Standards Group, to Licensing, to the Patent Group, where as Associate General Counsel he oversees all of Microsoft's patent filings and prosecution work.

Lynn found a way to advance her career while keeping her priority on raising a family.

"When we moved from San Jose to Redmond, we had just had our first daughter, and we decided that I would be a stay-at-home mom," says Lynn, formerly a litigator at Orrick, Herrington, and Sutcliffe. "The timing of the move was perfect, because I felt that the hours required to remain successful at this career were not conducive to a good stable family life or to raising children."

Even more fortuitously, says Lynn, "Within a year of us moving to Washington, Microsoft initiated a Virtual Attorney program where Patent Attorneys are contracted by Microsoft to write and prosecute patents. I applied for a position and have been a Virtual Attorney for Microsoft since. It is a perfect work situation for me. I continue to be able to work as a Patent Attorney with the flexibility of working from home when needed for our now-three children.

How did they both end up in IP law?

"We are both IP attorneys registered with the US Patent and Trademark Office," Lynn says. "We had thought about diversifying after law school, as we had both been engineers; but, because of our technical backgrounds, IP law was a natural for both of us. (You have to have an engineering, math, or science degree to be a registered Patent Attorney.) We even thought of playing 'rock-paper-scissors' to see which one of us would pursue IP and which would try another area of law! But as we were both fortunate to land jobs out of law school with IP firms, we decided that it was inevitable -- or at least kismet -- that our career paths would continue down the same road."

Movers and Shakers 

 

Grace McIlvain ('78) To Be Honored by William E. Morris Institute for Justice

 

Upcoming Events:

Tomorrow! Inaugural Event of the QuantLaw Program. From 5-6 pm, Ares Auditorium. Last chance to register here.  

Oral Trial Reform in Mexico Panel  - Tues., Oct. 29

Reception and Panel Discussion, 5:30-7:30 pm. National Law Center for Inter-American Free Trade, 440 N. Bonita Ave., Tucson, Arizona. RSVP by Oct. 25 at http://natlaw.com/events/oral-trial-reforms-case-mexico/. This event may qualify for 1 hour of CLE credit.

Homecoming Alumni Weekend - Fri. - Sat., Nov. 8 - 9 

For more information and to register, click here.

Warmly, 

Derek Bambauer shared his vision for Arizona Law's IP program with alumni at a community gathering in Phoenix this summer.

    

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

Marc L. Miller
Dean & Ralph W. Bilby Professor of Law
James E. Rogers College of Law 

alumni@law.arizona.edu