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Tim Alberts, a third-year student at Drake Law from Urbandale, was one of only two students to present his work at the annual conference of the Iowa Intellectual Property Law Association (IIPLA).
It was through relationships with the faculty at Drake Law that Alberts was provided this opportunity. Professors Shontavia Johnson (currently on the board for IIPLA) and Peter Yu were both influential in helping Alberts present. An assignment last fall in one of Yu’s classes encouraged Alberts to write a paper on the topic of the relatively new Copyright Alert System. What started out as a discussion for class lead to a paper, and the paper eventually lead to the opportunity to present to intellectual property law attorneys.
The Copyright Alert System went into effect in February of 2013. Alberts’ research and presentation explained what the current system offers, compared it to a similar system in France, and gave a detailed explanation of the pros and cons. It was of special interest to attorneys as many had not had the opportunity to learn about the new system. His presentation focused on explaining the system, especially how attorneys can talk to clients regarding the new system.
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For Alberts, this topic learned in class became much more than just an assignment. One of the board members of IIPLA commented that Alberts received some of the best post-presentation discussion and most detailed questions. Plus, the opportunity to present meant Alberts could connect with other presenters and attendees in a different way than if he simply attended the meetings.
Following Law School, Alberts plans to practice intellectual property (IP) law. Preferably, he would like to stay in the Midwest, but he understands that he’ll need to go wherever he can practice. His current plan is to sit for the Patent Bar and the Iowa Bar and go from there. Thankfully, through connections with faculty at Drake Law, he is already taking steps in the right direction.