DePaul College of Law professor Barbara Bressler has been named the new director of the Center for Intellectual Property Law & Information Technology (CIPLIT) at the DePaul University College of Law. The center is nationally recognized for its extensive training in intellectual property (IP) law and it was one of the first programs in the country to offer students custom-designed legal writing courses directly related to IP.

Bressler will replace Roberta R. Kwall, a noted scholar whose extensive background in intellectual property law led her to develop the center from a handful of IP course offerings. Kwall will continue to teach IP courses and to run the job program for first year students focusing on intellectual property law through the center.

Bressler has been involved with the center as a clinical professor responsible for providing students with hands-on legal experience. A graduate of the DePaul University College of Law, Bressler established the first technology and IP clinical program in the country through the center. The program is designed to help struggling artists, musicians, inventors and authors protect their creations by providing them with necessary legal services. In her new role as director of CIPLIT, Bressler will assume the day-to-day operations for the center.

“As technology continues to drive an increasing segment of our society it is exciting that the College of Law will remain on the forefront of preparing future lawyers for the new challenges that await on the horizon,” said Glen Weissenberger, dean of the College of Law. “I am confident that the center will continue to thrive and grow under the accomplished leadership of Professor Bressler.”

Weissenberger points to Kwall’s work as the key to establishing the College of Law as a leader in IP legal education. “Professor Kwall was a visionary in her recognition of the importance of IP law when the field was in its infancy,” said Weissenberger. “Not only did she have the creative imagination to develop the idea of an IP law center, but she also had the leadership skills and drive to make our center among the very best in the nation. Professor Kwall’s scholarship in itself establishes the College of Law as a leading law school in the field of intellectual property law.”

The DePaul College of Law was one of the first law schools in the country to develop an extensive course of study in IP when it established CIPLIT in 1997. Its program boasts more than 30 courses and certifications in IP. They include such offerings as patent law, information technology and art and museum law. The center also offers two joint degree programs with DePaul’s School of Computer Science, Telecommunications and Information Systems, and an LL.M. degree.

Students can gain valuable experience providing legal assistance to local artists and inventors through the program’s Technology Intellectual Property Clinic, which Bressler created, or through the program’s summer job program, which is one of the most extensive in the country. The center’s programs have consistently been ranked among the best in the nation by U.S. News & Word Report in its annual survey of specialty graduate programs.

The change in leadership at the center will allow it to build on the solid reputation established by Kwall. “IP is an exciting and evolving arena and I am honored to have the opportunity to further and lead the very relevant and important work of CIPLIT,” said Bressler. “Roberta Kwall has developed a program that attracts students from around the country. As technology and the practice of law increasingly intersect, I look forward to helping future lawyers understand and navigate the existing as well as the new legal issues they will face.”