March 18, 2024
This "Spring Break" edition of the BLIP Clinic Newsletter focuses on clinic news! Coverage of news stories will resume next edition.
BLIP’s Patent Students Place 3rd in the Eastern Regional Round of the Annual USPTO Patent Competition
Amidst stiff competition from renowned law schools across the region, BLIP Patent students distinguished themselves with their exceptional performance in the United States Patent and Trademark Office’s annual Patent Application Drafting Competition.
The talented team, comprised of Keely Redhage (‘25), Katherine Klaugin (‘25), Caitlyn Genovese (‘24), and David Lee (‘24), clinched third place in the Eastern District regional round. This is the first time BLS has ever made it to the second round of the competition.
The students were coached by BLIP Professor Joshua English. “Being able to do this with our professor from BLIP was really cool” said Caitlyn, noting the advantage of having a coach who was familiar with the team’s work and writing styles.
The team was not initially expecting to get as far as they did. “A lot of the people on the other teams were patent agents that practice full-time,” said Keely. “This is their day job. I think [placing] speaks to how smart we all are, how much we tried, cared about, and invested in this project,” she said.
Each member of the team brought unique experiences and backgrounds to the table, allowing them to divvy up the work while maintaining a cohesive narrative throughout the patent proposal. The patent competition required the students to use both transactional skills and litigation skills. Caitlyn explained that this gave students “the best of both worlds,” because patent attorneys usually practice exclusively in one area.
The students hope that their work will help bring awareness of patent-law opportunities available in BLIP and encourage the school to offer additional patent-focused classes. For students who are considering patent work, the team members suggested reaching out to people with similar interests. “Talk about your passions with your classmates,” said Katherine, who mentioned that she met Caitlyn and Keely in non-patent classes and their conversations ultimately led to her joining the BLIP patent team and her work in this competition.
Upcoming: The Future of Fintech Law and Policy
BLIP is gearing up for an event on April 5 on Fintech Law and Policy. The event -- ETF Spots and Crypto Bots: The Evolving Frontier of Fintech will include a Q&A with SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce and a panel of fintech legal experts and futurists exploring the past, present, and future of fintech.
The program is open to the public and free to attend. More information is available here. CLE credit is available for a limited number of registrants.
Innovating American Politics: Reimagining Democracy for the Digital Age
Earlier this month, BLIP co-hosted a wide-ranging panel discussion on identifying ways to innovate our political systems and reimagine our democracy for the digital age. The panel featured Andrew Yang, Anthony Scaramucci, Charles Wheelan, and Beth Simone Noveck.
The panelists opened the discussion by highlighting some of the key structural problems plaguing U.S. politics. “70% of the country is essentially one-party rule and you only have maybe eight or 10% of districts that are genuinely contested at any moment in time,” said Yang, who blames the current political gridlock on the current two-party system. “The myth in American life is that our leaders have to make 51% of us happy to stay in power. It's not really true–they have to keep the eight to ten percent most ideologically extreme voters off their case.”
Professor Beth Noveck sees technology as a crucial element of the solution. “We hear a lot in the media about our elections and A.I., we worry about the deepfake problem, but at the same time A.I. can help us–as it's doing in India–better authenticate voters before they go to the polls,” said Noveck, whose work focuses on harnessing the power of A.I to improve democracy. “A.I. can also help me create very cheaply and easily educational videos, training videos, and other materials that can make it cheaper to run for office.”
Looking to build on the momentum sparked by the panel, BLIP and Legal Hackers are teaming up to organize a “Hackathon” focused on the same topic this semester. This Legal Hackathon will continue through the Legal Hackers Annual Dinner slated for April 3 at Brooklyn Law School.
That’s all for this edition!
BLIP Newsletter Editorial Team