Admission

The Gibbons Institute seeks to admit highly qualified candidates with a particular interest in IP law, including patent, trademark, copyright and technology law. All candidates must hold a Juris Doctorate degree from an American Bar Association accredited law school.

We seek candidates for the LL.M. program from among attorneys already practicing IP law who wish to increase their exposure to and credentials in the field; attorneys who wish to transition from other practice areas to IP; government officials and regulators who specialize or wish to specialize in IP related issues; and law school graduates who are interested in teaching or other academic or research work relating to IP law. It is possible for students to combine courses from the Health and IP LL.M. curricula.

In making its selections, the LL.M. admissions committee will consider depth of practice experience, quality of law school academic record, demonstrated interest in intellectual property law, and evidenced ability to do superior academic work. In most cases, we highly recommend that a candidate have at least two or three years of practice experience, beyond a judicial clerkship, before commencing the graduate program.

The application deadline for the spring semester is October 1, 2008, and the deadline for the fall semester is June 1, 2009. The academic calendar may be found at [insert link]. An application fee of $60 is required with the application.

On-line Application

Course of Study

LL.M. candidates must meet the following requirements:

• Completion of 24 credit hours of course work at the Law School;

• Completion of a high quality paper, under the supervision of a full-time faculty member (3 credits); and

• Maintenance of a GPA of at least 3.0.

LL.M. candidates may pursue one of five subspecialties:

1. Patent Law and Policy,

2. Trademark Law and Policy,

3. Copyright Law and Policy,

4. Intellectual Property and Life Science Industry, or

5. Intellectual Property and Telecommunications Industry

Regardless of the chosen specialty, every student must take the following three courses: Patent Law (2 credits), Trademark Law (3 credits), and Copyright Law (3 credits); and complete a 3 credit paper seminar. The remaining 13 credits will be electives from among the Law School’s IP curriculum, with some allowance for limited credits from the health law curriculum. The graduate student’s faculty advisor will aid the student in selecting electives appropriate to the student's subspecialty. No credits can be applied from a J.D. program to the Seton Hall LL.M. Program, but a student who has taken similar courses in his/her J.D. program may be excused from taking courses that would otherwise be required for the LL.M.

LL.M. students are encouraged to complete the degree within two years of commencing enrollment in the program, but they have up to six years to do so.
 

• Advanced Topics in Intellectual Property
• Biotechnology and the Law
• Communications Law and Policy
• Comparative and International Intellectual Property (proposed 2007-08)
• Copyright
• Electronic Commerce
• Information Privacy Law
• Intellectual Property
• Intellectual Property and Antitrust Law
• Intellectual Property Licensing
• Internet Law
• IP Aspects of Pharmaceutical and Biotech Business
• Law and Genetics
• Patent Claim Drafting
• Patent Law & Practice
• Practical Application of IP in Technology Agreements
• Technology, Human Rights & Equality
• Trademark and Unfair Competition
• Trademark Registration
• Trademark Theory
• United States Patent Application Preparation and Prosecution

• Administrative Law
• Antitrust
• Business Planning
• Corporate Finance
• Drug Innovation, Regulation and Costs
• Food and Drug law
• Independent Research

Seminar Paper

In most cases, the LL.M. student will convert his or her seminar paper into the Master's Thesis. This will enable the student to spend two semesters of concentrated effort on the topic, presumably under the direction of the seminar teacher, who would continue the supervisory responsibilities through the second semester. Only full-time faculty serve as thesis supervisors. The LL.M. seminar paper must be a scholarly paper of publishable law review quality, of at least 25 pages in length.

LL.M. students must remain in good academic standing throughout the program.
In order to graduate, LL.M. students must achieve an overall GPA of 3.0. Students will be dismissed if their grades render it impossible to attain this GPA at the completion of the required program of study. Those with a GPA below a 3.0 are required to make an appointment with the Administrator of Graduate Programs to discuss appropriate next steps.

Exam Procedures

Each student is given an exam number. In addition to using his or her exam number, each student should indicate on the front of his/her exam that he/she is an LL.M. candidate. This allows professors to exclude graduate students from the mandatory J.D. grading curve. No other reference to identity should be indicated on the exam. Every effort to maintain a student’s anonymity will be made; however, anonymity may sometimes be compromised due to the small number of graduate students enrolled in a given class.

To Request Information / How to Apply

Prospective students may request information for the LLM program by clicking on the following link or calling 973-642-8871: LLM Inquiry

To apply online, please complete the following form: LLM Application

If you have questions or have trouble completing the application, please contact Helen A. Cummings, Administrator of Graduate Programs at 973-642-8380.