Dr. Gao Lulin, a long-time friend of The John Marshall Law School's Center for Intellectual Property Law, has agreed to serve on the Center's Advisory Board.

"We are delighted to have Dr. Gao join us. His insights on China and his knowledge of the work of the Chinese government to protect intellectual property rights are invaluable to The John Marshall Law School’s IP program," said Professor Richard Gruner, director of the Center for Intellectual Property Law.

The IP Advisory Board meets twice a year and provides the Center's faculty and staff with guidance on the development of the IP curriculum, the means to serve the IP bar, and important changes in IP law and practice.

Dr. Gao is also planning to teach the "Master Class in Patent Law and Practice in China" in September 2008. This will be the third time he has been an instructor at John Marshall. Previously, the course has covered the development of Chinese patent law; a comparison of Chinese patent law, U.S .patent law, and the TRIPS Agreement; an examination of major Chinese patent-related cases; and proposals for multinational companies in acquiring and enforcing patent rights in China.

Dr. Gao is the honorary president of the All China Patent Agents Association and is chairman of East IP, a private law firm in Beijing. It was during a 1993 visit to Chicago as commissioner of the Chinese Patent Office (now SIPO) that Dr. Gao first learned of The John Marshall Law School and its work in intellectual property law. From that initial meeting, Dr. Gao and then-Associate Dean Robert Gilbert Johnston designed a program that, over the years, has blossomed into partnership.

Today, more than half of the SIPO attorneys have been trained by or received degrees from The John Marshall Law School. John Marshall is also training attorneys in IP law who enter Chinese private law firms and the judiciary.