Golden Gate University School of Law is new home for McCarthy Institute

Golden Gate University School of Law recently acquired the prestigious McCarthy Institute, a development it hopes will significantly enhance the school’s intellectual property program and bolster job prospects for graduates.

The institute and its executive director, David Franklyn, transitioned to Golden Gate from University of San Francisco School of Law, a crosstown competitor and fellow American Bar Association-accredited institution.

The institute, founded by renowned trademark lawyer J. Thomas McCarthy, is known for its focus on new developments in trademark law, consumer behaviors that impact brand perception, and technological changes.

Golden Gate Dean Anthony Niedwiecki said it is a natural fit for a law school in the heart of San Francisco’s thriving technology community to expand its IP and related offerings by bringing on board the McCarthy Institute. Golden Gate’s campus is near offices from many top technology companies, including Facebook Inc., LinkedIn Inc., Twitter Inc. and Alphabet Inc.-owned Google.

“Having the institute here and having Professor David Franklyn on the faculty breaks us into the tech community much more quickly and gives us one of the biggest intellectual property programs in the country,” Niedwiecki said.

A career placement expert Golden Gate hired also told the school that the technology sector was the source of many potential jobs for graduates. Niedwiecki said tech companies are hiring lawyers straight out of law school, so preparing students to work in that realm is essential.

“This is what the market is telling us is important, and we had to respond to it,” he said.

At software and online companies, employees handling legal, business and marketing tasks are increasingly working together. The dean said that is a major reason why the McCarthy Institute, which officially came to Golden Gate last month, will be a joint center between the institution’s law school and business school.

Franklyn, who spent nearly two decades at USF, said the enthusiasm among Golden Gate’s leaders for expanding the scope of the institute’s work was very enticing.

“We conceived of the possibility of the institute broadening its footprint from mostly looking at trademarks from a legal point of view to also looking at them from a branding and marketing point of view,” Franklyn said. “I saw it as a wonderful opportunity.”

In order to enhance the institute’s research, Franklyn said business professors from Northwestern University, University of Chicago and University of Texas at Austin will help shape the interdisciplinary projects that are undertaken.

An initial research project for the McCarthy Institute at Golden Gate will feature students, research associates and professors evaluating how to value a trademark.

The institute will also help put on a series of conferences and workshops in San Francisco and across the globe.

A conference focused on the future of trademarks will be held at New York University School of Law in February. A global trademark summit scheduled for September 2019 in Spain will be co-sponsored with the European Union’s IP Office.

Golden Gate will also host a grand opening ceremony for the McCarthy Institute next Thursday. Mary Boney Denison, the United States Patent and Trademark Office’s commissioner of trademarks, will be one of the speakers.

“We are hoping to partner with all the major intellectual property offices in the world,” Niedwiecki said.