Competitions & Awards

AIPLA provides three major awards and competitions throughout the year.  All three programs - the Giles Sutherland Rich Moot Court Competition, the Robert C. Watson Award and the Quarterly Journal Publication Staff Competition, are designed to give students further experience with the concepts and realities of a career in IP Law.

I.  The Giles Sutherland Rich Moot Court Competition — Presenting Problems in Intellectual Property Law

Now in its 35th year, the AIPLA Moot Court Competition is named for a member of the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit who was the most distinguished jurist in the field of patent law in the world.

The 2008 Giles Sutherland Rich Memorial Moot Court Competition is divided into four regional competitions followed by a national competition among the top two teams from each region. The regional competitions will be held in Houston, Silicon Valley, Chicago, and Boston on the weekend of March 14 - 16, 2008. The National Finals will take place in Washington, DC on April 16 - 18, 2008.

The National Director of the competition is Kim Van Voorhis, Troy Grabow and Andrew Stein are chair and vice-chair, respectively, of the Young Lawyers Committee.

Click here to download the materials for the 2008 Moot Court Competition.

<<<CLICK HERE FOR A LIST OF PAST HONOREES AND AWARDEES>>>

II. Robert C. Watson Award

To be presented on October 24, 2008 at the 2008 Annual Meeting in Washington, DC, the Watson Award of $2,000 is awarded to the author of best article on a subject relating to the protection of intellectual property written or published between July 1, 2007 and June 30, 2008.

RULES:

To be eligible for consideration, the article must have been written solely by a student or students either in full time attendance at a law school (day or evening) or prepared in connection with a law school course. The article must be submitted to the American Intellectual Property Law Association on or before June 30, 2008. Papers should be approximately the equivalent of 10 law review pages including footnotes (30-40 pages typed copy). Submission of 20 copies is required. Submissions must include the submitter’s name, current address, current telephone number, and employment information, if applicable.

Judges will consider the merit of the article as a contribution to the knowledge respecting intellectual property and the extent to which it displays original and creative thought or information not previously written or published by the author prior to July 1, 2007.

Reasonable expenses will be reimbursed to the author of the winning paper to travel to Washington, DC to receive the Watson Award on October 24, 2008. Send articles to:

American Intellectual Property Law Association
Watson Award Competition
241 18th Street South, Suite 700
Arlington, VA 22202
Telephone: 703-415-0780

<<<CLICK HERE FOR A LIST OF PAST HONOREES AND AWARDEES>>>

III. Quarterly Journal Publication Staff Competition

The AIPLA Quarterly Journal selects its Publication Staff through a competition held each year in the spring. Students who have two full academic years remaining in an ABA-accredited law school, e.g. first-year full-time J.D. candidates or second-year part-time J.D. candidates, are eligible to compete. The Publication Staff's responsibilities are similar to that of members on other student-run journals and are coordinated by several student editors, selected each year from among the first-year Publication Staff.

Staff selection is announced in August and terms run from late August 2008 through May 2010. Membership in AIPLA is required for the duration of the term.

Students who wish to compete must submit (by fax or by mail) a Request to Compete form and a signed copy of the Candidate Agreement, by close of business (5 p.m.) on Friday, March 7, 2008.  Competition packets are mailed to arrive at the candidate's address on March 14, and must be returned by mail, postmarked no later than the following Monday.

The Quarterly Journal is a publication of AIPLA, one of the largest private bars of intellectual property attorneys in the world. The Quarterly Journal is run through the efforts of the Editorial Board, the Publication Staff, and Administrative Staff, all coordinated by the Editor-In-Chief.

The Publication Staff is coordinated by four Executive Editors, three Articles Editors and three Notes Editors. These editors are selected each year from among the first-year Publication Staff.
The Publication Staff has its office at The George Washington University Law School in Washington, DC.  Residency in the Washington area is not required for a staff member position. However, residency may be a factor should you choose to apply for one of the ten Editor positions in your second year with the Quarterly Journal.

Staff members serve for two academic years beginning in August, including the intermediate summer. An orientation, available on video for non-local national members, is held in late August. During the first year, each staff member is required to complete one legal note of publishable quality on a topic (related to intellectual property) approved by the faculty advisor and the production staff executive board. Staff members are also required to complete assigned articles editing assignments on a timely basis.

Law students interested in participating on the Publication Staff should direct inquiries to:

AIPLA Quarterly Journal
Attention: Executive Notes Editor
2000 H Street, N.W.
Washington, DC 20052
(202) 994-8620
Fax: (202) 994-8626
E-mail: QJ@aipla.org

<<<CLICK HERE FOR A LIST OF PAST AND CURRENT QUARTERLY JOURNAL STAFF>>>

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