University of Iowa Hiring an In-House IP Attorney

By Jason Rantanen

I’m excited to report that my academic institution, the University of Iowa, is hiring an in-house intellectual property attorney.  The University of Iowa is a major public research university that conducts, among many other activities, an extensive biomedical research program.  Situated at the heart of Iowa City, a beautiful midwestern college town, the university consists of 13 Colleges with over 32,000 students.  Among these is the University of Iowa College of Law, a top public law school founded in 1865.

The position is particularly exciting because we’ve designed it from the ground-up to support both the research and development mission of the university as well as the teaching mission of the College of Law.  The person hired for this role will primarily work with the University of Iowa Research Foundation (UIRF) in connection with the patenting process.  In addition, he or she will supervise law students working at the UIRF, support the innovative Iowa Medical Innovation Group course, and teach one advanced intellectual property course at the College of Law each year.  The summary from the job positing is below, and the posting itself is available at: https://jobs.uiowa.edu/pands/view/68075.

The University of Iowa (UI) seeks an In-House Intellectual Property Counsel (Patent Attorney) to support licensing activities and intellectual property management for technologies being commercialized by the University of Iowa Research Foundation (UIRF). This individual will advise on transactional issues including licensing, sponsored research and related agreements. The individual may draft and file some provisional patent applications. The Patent Attorney will coordinate with the UI’s Office of the General Counsel (OGC) on the UIRF’s role in any intellectual property litigation. In addition, this individual will support the Iowa College of Law by teaching and mentoring law students. In this role, this individual will teach one or more courses each year on an advanced intellectual property law topic such as intellectual property licensing, supervise law students working as externs in the UIRF, and support the College of Law component of the Iowa Medical Innovation Group (IMIG) course. This position will have solid-line reporting to the Executive Director of the UIRF, with dotted-line reporting to the UI Assistant Vice President for Economic Development.

The current advertisement runs until January 5, and if you’re interested in the position I would encourage you to apply by early January.  Inquiries about this position should not be sent to me.  They should be sent to the designated contact person on the job posting.