Intellectual Property, Information & Communications Law

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Protect Innovation. Technological innovation drives today’s economy and transforms our lives.  Lawyers make this progress possible by protecting inventors and creators and ensuring that they share in the benefit of their innovations. MSU’s Intellectual Property, Information, and Communications Law (IPIC), one of the best programs in the country, trains lawyers to play this pivotal role in our information economy.

Our IPIC faculty are leaders in intellectual property law, and they bring their scholarship and hands-on experience into the classroom. Students engage with cutting-edge research in patent, copyright, trademark, internet law, international IP, and informatics. Our capstone seminar series allows IPIC’s best students to interact with leading IP scholars and practitioners, and our topical lecture series brings speakers from all over the world to campus.

Michigan State University’s position as a global leader in the sciences connects MSU Law students with up-to-the-minute developments in engineering, computer science, agriculture, and communications — as well as University efforts to encourage and protect its own innovations. This collaboration provides our students with a unique interdisciplinary perspective to their legal studies and enhances the value of an IPIC education.

IPIC has close ties to Michigan’s intellectual property bar, one of the most active in the country, and this relationship launches outstanding careers for our graduates.

CAREERS FOR IPIC STUDENTS

IPIC grads are in demand. IPIC law offers intellectually stimulating work with an impressive return on investment. Our graduates find work at leading intellectual property law firms over the world, protecting the intellectual property rights of inventors and innovators. Spartan lawyers also work as in-house counsel for some of the world’s most iconic brands.

Recent MSU Law IPIC employers include:
Brooks & Kushman, P.C.
Dickstein Shapiro Morin & Oshinsky LLP
Dow AgroSciences
Fish & Richardson P.C.
Foley & Lardner
Foster, Swift, Collins & Smith, P.C.
Fulbright & Jaworski LLP
General Motors Corporation
Greenberg Traurig, LLP
Harness, Dickey & Pierce, PLC
Honigman Miller Schwartz and Cohn LLP
Howard & Howard Attorneys PLLC
Howrey LLP
O'Melveny & Myers
Sughrue Mion, PLLC
U.S. Patent and Trademark Office

Patent lawyers with an engineering or hard science background are very employable, with entry-level salaries of up to $150,000 per year.

MSU Law students benefit from networking relationships with our alumni at top firms across the country. They maintain close ties to the IPIC program when they graduate, providing job leads to our students, speaking at events, and supporting our programming.