Law Times

Page 12 January 28, 2013 Law Times • FOCUS IP clinic hoping for growth BY MICHAEL McKIERNAN Law Times T he professor behind Canada's first law school intellectual property clinic wants to see it grow following a successful pilot year. The CCR/IP Osgoode Innovation Clinic, a collaboration between Osgoode Hall Law School and the Centre for Commercialization of Research, recently completed a pilot program aiming to help the centre's companies deal with intellectual property issues. "We're looking to other institutions where other students and entrepreneurs are working. One obvious place is within the university itself, in places like the faculty of science and engineering. We've also been approached by other universities," says Giuseppina D'Agostino, an associate professor at Osgoode and director of the clinic. Six students helped 11 of the centre's startup companies in the last academic year. This time around, the clinic has attracted 10 students who each devote about five to six hours a week offering pro bono services. "It's a very exciting time in legal education. The future is going to be more and more collaborative, so being able to help people that would not otherwise have the resources, in a meaningful way, is wonderful," says D'Agostino. She had the idea for the clinic long before its 2011 launch when the centre came on board along with Torys LLP. The law firm provides intellectual property lawyers who supervise students. "I wanted to do something more from the grassroots perspective to make sure we're able to help innovators to really make it into the economy," she says. Trish Barrow, director of the centre, says intellectual property rights are critical to the 'I wanted to do something more from the grassroots perspective to make sure we're able to help innovators to really make it into the economy,' says Giuseppina D'Agostino. development of the companies the Ontario Centres of Excellence supports. "It's their actual lifeblood. It is what they are basing their whole company and future on, so protecting that is vitally important, especially when you're talking about IT companies or software applications. It's not just patents but trademarks and trade secrets. Sometimes it's not something that can be patented per se but a specific way of doing something that they have to keep under wraps because being first to market and having that advantage is what's going to make them superstars." Barrow says good advice was traditionally hard to come by for companies at the early stages. "They're students just out of school with a great idea or a prototype. Now they have to figure out what to do with these things, how to commercialize it, and how to protect it. This allows them, with limited resources, a place they can go to and get good advice for free. It reduces costs significantly." So far, the clinic's clients have come from a variety of sectors, including biotechnology, green CANADIAN LAW LIST 2013 YOUR INSTANT CONNECTION TO CANADA'S LEGAL NETWORK Inside you will find: • • Hardbound • Published February each year On subscription $154 • L88804-590 One-time purchase $170 • L88804-590 Prices subject to change without notice, to applicable taxes and shipping & handling. an up-to-date alphabetical listing of more than 58,000 barristers, solicitors and Quebec notaries, corporate counsel, law firms and judges in Canada; contact information for the Supreme Court of Canada, the Federal Court of Canada, Federal Cabinet Ministers, departments, boards, commissions and Crown corporations; • legal and government contact information related to each province for the Courts of Appeal, Supreme Courts, County and District Courts, Provincial Courts, law societies, law schools, Legal Aid, and other law-related offices of importance. MORE THAN A PHONE BOOK Visit carswell.com or call 1.800.387.5164 for a 30-day no-risk evaluation www.lawtimesnews.com industry, and the information technology and communications fields. D'Agostino is also eyeing new prospects in digital media and mechanical engineering. "We're trying to help underresourced companies to get to the stage where they can fly. Without at least an understanding of what the legal strategy should be, you have nothing. The key is to understand what the approach should be and not go into things blindly." She notes law students offer a unique perspective mainstream law firms may not be able to provide. "They're able to talk with clients in a very conversational way, which is something you might lose when you become a seasoned lawyer. A lot of them are also scientists, so they really get it and they speak the language." And students also have a lot to gain from the hands-on learning a clinic provides, according to D'Agostino. "Everybody's learning," she says. "They get an early opportunity to have face-to-face contact with clients, which is something that many don't get to do until after some years of practice." The clinic is the newest in a suite of Osgoode clinics. They date back as far as the early 1970s when the school launched the pioneering Community and Legal Aid Services Program and Parkdale Community Legal Services. Dean Lorne Sossin recently hailed the school's tradition of clinic education in a blog introducing the faculty's new office of experiential education. "Osgoode's curricular requirement of a 'praxicum' expressly requires not just an opportunity to participate in legal problemsolving first-hand but also an opportunity to reflect on that experience through evaluated academic work. This is no return to the 'trade school.' The integration of the hands-on experience with the contextual exploration of law — its origins, impact, and ideologies — is essential to a modern understanding of experiential education," Sossin wrote. And members of the Law Society of Upper Canada's articling task force also cited the school as an example to follow in this area. "In our view, law schools should follow Osgoode's lead and increase opportunities for practical training and, indeed, require it. Many students, after years and years of academic study, are clamouring for practical training in the latter half of a three-year law degree," the final report stated. Currently, clinic participants are unable to get course credits for their work, but D'Agostino has applied to the faculty council to change that. "It's completely voluntary, which is incredible," she says. "All our plans are about further expanding and institutionalizing the program." LT

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