Students Can Benefit from the Bloomberg Law IP Practice Center Right Now!

Bloomberg Law has revamped their IP Practice Center, now called the IP/Tech & Telecom Practice Center. Each Bloomberg Practice Center provides practitioners with practice tools and resources within a specific area of law. For the IP/Tech & Telecom Practice Center, resources are more narrowly organized into practice areas: Patents, Trade Secrets, Trademarks, Copyrights, Tech & Telecom, and Media.

While you can still view IP practice tools generally, the practice area tabs offer a more targeted view of IP subjects. Practice Pages act as a portal for accessing legal analysis, specialized docket searches, chart builders, and other practice tools. For example, there are many practice tool options for tracking major developments in IP, including the IP Legislative Tracker, the IP Regulatory Tracker, the TTAB Tracker, and the IP Supreme Court Tracker. Another feature of the Practice Center is In Focus, which offers a collection of important and current IP issues accompanied by decisions, dockets, news, and analysis.

Students may think that these are tools for practitioners, which is true! Practice centers are designed with the research needs of practitioners in mind. That doesn’t mean students can’t benefit from the resources as well.

Any foray into a practice center as a student can help prepare the student for work as an attorney. It allows students to familiarize themselves with research tools outside of case and statute databases. Law school provides many opportunities for students to make use of the practice centers, especially for UNC students interested in the IP/Tech & Telecom Practice Center.

Journals

The IP Practice Center is a gold mine for any staff member interested in writing on an IP/tech topic. The legal analysis, legislation trackers, Supreme Court tracker, and In Focus issues are all excellent sources for topic selection. The current awareness tools can also allow students to stay up to date on their chosen topic throughout the writing and publication process.

Skills Courses

Many law schools offers classes designated as “skills” courses, and a few of these courses at UNC have an IP focus. Their driving goal is to teach students real world skills applied in a narrow area of practice, which often involves research and drafting assignments. Examples of forms and filed documents are available through the Practice Center and can provide models and guidance for students’ assignments.

Clinics

One of the reasons students seek out clinics is the opportunity to practice while in law school with personalized attorney oversight. Clinic work is an excellent opportunity for students to dive into a practice center. Students in the UNC Law Intellectual Property Clinic who work on trademarks can find guidance from the IP Practice Center on topics such as conducting a search, writing a cease and desist letter, and sample clauses.

Job Searching

For job hunting students, knowing the recent developments in a desired area of practice can be impressive to employers. The IP Practice Center has multiple current awareness tools that allow you to stay in the know on legal developments and issues in copyright, patent, trademark and more.

These are just a few of the ways students can use practice center tools, especially the IP/Tech & Telecom Practice Center on Bloomberg Law! Students should explore the practice centers most relevant to their interests and keep it in mind as a resource throughout their time in law school.

Other Bloomberg Law Practice Centers include:

• Antitrust
• Banks & Finance
• Bankruptcy
• Corporate
• Employee Benefits
• Environment & Safety
• Health
• Labor & Employment
• Securities
• Tax

Bonus tip: Look at the Tax Practice Center for a sneak peek at what we may be seeing from Bloomberg Law’s website in the future!