Partnerships

The Foundation actively seeks partnerships within the intellectual property community and is please to recognize those partnership efforts here.

Practising Law Institute

PLI

Practising Law Institute is a nonprofit learning organization dedicated to keeping attorneys and other professionals at the forefront of knowledge and expertise. PLI is chartered by the Regents of the University of the State of New York, and was founded in 1933 by Harold P. Seligson.

PLI provides the highest quality, accredited, continuing legal and professional education programs in a variety of formats which are delivered by more than 4,000 volunteer faculty including prominent lawyers, judges, investment bankers, accountants, corporate counsel, and U.S. and international government regulators. PLI publishes a comprehensive library of Treatises, Course Handbooks, Answer Books and Journals also available through the PLI PLUS online platform. The essence of PLI’s mission is its commitment to the pro bono community.

Practising Law Institute and the Foundation for Advancement of Diversity in IP Law are making PLI’s Patent Office Exam Course available to the Foundation’s Sidney B. Williams, Jr. Scholars. Taken by more than a thousand law students and professionals each year, PLI’s Patent Office Exam Course is recognized as the leading resource for those preparing for a career in IP law. The comprehensive, authoritative, interactive course focuses on the subjects and strategies needed to pass the Patent Office Registration Exam.

“PLI recognizes the need to encourage greater diversity in IP law, and the Foundation’s talented group of Sidney B. Williams, Jr. Scholars represents the future of the profession. We are proud to partner with the Foundation to share our course, recognized as the gold standard for those preparing for the grueling and rigorous Exam, with these impressive up-and-coming IP lawyers,” says Mark Dighton, PLI’s Director of Law School Relations and Administrative Director of the Patent Office Exam Course.

Linn Inn Alliance of the American Inns of Court

Linn Inn Alliance Seal

The Linn Inn Alliance was founded by the Honorable Richard Linn, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit.  It began as an ad hoc effort in 2008 to unite the then six existing intellectual property law focused American Inns of Court has now taken root both as a catalyst in the formation of new IP-focused Inns and as a vehicle for the sharing of meeting and program information- and for the enhancement of the Inns of Court experience among all of the members of the now more than two dozen intellectual property law American Inns of Court around the country and in Japan. The Linn Inn Alliance operates under the umbrella of the American Inns of Court.

The Linn Inn Alliance and the Foundation for Advancement of Diversity in IP Law are affording individual Inns of the Alliance the opportunity to participate with the Foundation as sponsors for Sidney B. Williams, Jr. Scholars.  Under these Inn sponsorships, Scholars may have the opportunity to participate as student members of the individual Inns of the Alliance. 

Mitchell Hamline School of Law

Mitchell Hamline School of Law

The Foundation and Mitchell Hamline School of Law share a mission to prepare students from underrepresented backgrounds to pursue careers in patent lawMitchell Hamline offers both on-campus and online JD degree programs, including innovative programming that can make access to legal education more widely available.  More information about Mitchell Hamline is available through the following links: