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Intellectual Property Law Section of the State Bar of ÁÔÆæÖØ¿Ú and the Blewett School of Law

Presents:

IP DAY IN MONTANA

Missoula, ÁÔÆæÖØ¿Ú | MARCH 27, 2026

Join us in Missoula on Friday, March 27, 2026 for our seventh installment of IP Day in ÁÔÆæÖØ¿Ú, taking place at the Blewett School of Law at the ÁÔÆæÖØ¿Ú.

This year’s IP Day in ÁÔÆæÖØ¿Ú program will feature many topics around AI & IP in addition to networking events!  Don’t miss this opportunity to meet with and learn from the leaders in IP law.  Whether you attend annually or if this will be your first time, we hope to see you there.

The 2026 IP Day in ÁÔÆæÖØ¿Ú will feature very special guest, Professor Martin Skladany who will offer insights on .

IP Day in ÁÔÆæÖØ¿Ú is the result of an ongoing partnership between the Blewett School of Law and the IPL Section of the ÁÔÆæÖØ¿Ú Bar.

The organizers and collaborators of IP Day in ÁÔÆæÖØ¿Ú are committed to continuing the mission of bringing free intellectual property education to students, businesses, and the ÁÔÆæÖØ¿Ú community.  Therefore, if you register prior to March 16, 2026, this event is free to the general public, while legal professionals seeking CLE credit may pay $60.00 plus processing fees. Beginning on March 16, 2026, registration fees will increase by $25.00 to accommodate catering adjustments.  Please register here:  

KEYNOTE: Martin Skladany, J.D., M.P.A. M.Phil. – Samuel Weiss Faculty Scholar, Professor of Law at PennState Dickinson Law

2026 IP Day in ÁÔÆæÖØ¿Ú Schedule - All Things AI

Friday, March 27, 2026 (Room 201, Blewett School of Law)

Speaker Bios

Martin Skladany, J.D., M.P.A. M.Phil. – Samuel Weiss Faculty Scholar, Professor of Law at PennState Dickinson Law

Martin Skladany is a professor of intellectual property, AI, law and international development, law and higher education, and health law. He is also a faculty affiliate with the Penn State University Center for Socially Responsible Artificial Intelligence.

Professor Skladany is the author of Copyright’s Arc (Cambridge University Press) and Big Copyright Versus the People: How Major Content Providers are Destroying Creativity and How to Stop Them (Cambridge University Press). In addition to publishing widely in peer-reviewed journals and law reviews, he has written for dozens of domestic and international newspapers and magazines.

Previously, as a copyright and litigation associate at Debevoise & Plimpton LLP, he was a member of the legal team that represented the Association of American Publishers in the Google Books copyright suit.

Robert Hoffman – AI Scientist at Arlo Solutions

Rob Hoffman is a Senior Manager in AI-Enabled Learning and Project Innovation with more than 20 years of cross-sector leadership spanning government, academia, and private industry. Known for transforming complex challenges into scalable, future-ready solutions, he brings deep expertise in artificial intelligence, agile program delivery, instructional design, and strategic innovation. In his current role at Arlo Solutions, Rob leads enterprise-level initiatives at the intersection of emerging technology, adaptive learning, and workforce transformation. He oversees R&D programs, designs custom learning management systems (LMS), and develops large language model (LLM) integrations to drive mission-aligned training strategies across federal agencies. Rob’s leadership track record includes serving as a Chief Executive Officer, Digital Communications Manager, award-winning film and media producer, and public-sector strategist. He led statewide innovation teams, directed national product launches, and made history as the youngest Wing Commander in Civil Air Patrol. He co-developed the Valor Infinity role-playing game and Escape Da Box card game, and has contributed to emergency medicine education as faculty for the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh and as an ACLS/BLS Program Administrator for the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. Rob is also a Disabled U.S. Army veteran. Academic Credentials • Doctoral Candidate, EdD in Higher Education Leadership • M.Ed. in Educational Leadership and Change • M-MBA in Information Technology • M-MBA in Leadership • B.A. in Criminal Justice with a concentration in Forensics Professional Certifications • Certified Artificial Intelligence Scientist • Certified Artificial Intelligence Management Professional • Certified SAFe 6.0 Agilist • Certified Change Management Expert • Certified Criminal Investigator (Financial & Forensic Specializations) Rob is passionate about building principled, human-centered AI solutions that bridge technology, education, policy, and design. His work focuses on enabling people to learn, lead, and adapt within rapidly evolving digital landscapes—empowering organizations and individuals to thrive through innovation.

Jacob H. Rooksby, J.D., Ph.D. - Smithmoore P. Myers Dean of Gonzaga University School of Law; Professor of Law

Jacob H. Rooksby is proud to be an academic, administrator, and attorney. Appointed Dean of Gonzaga Law School in 2018, Rooksby’s focus at Gonzaga has been on innovating the law school’s programming, facility, and operations and integrating the school further with the broader university and regional communities. A champion of diversity who established the first LGBTQ+ rights legal clinic at a Catholic law school in the country, Rooksby has worked to establish pay equity for faculty and provide equality of opportunity for students, faculty, and staff alike. He holds a joint appointment as a Professor of Law and Leadership Studies and has taught five different courses throughout his deanship.

Rooksby’s scholarship lies in two fields: IP law and higher education law. He published a book with Johns Hopkins University Press in 2016, The Branding of the American Mind: How Universities Capture, Manage, and Monetize Intellectual Property and Why It Matters. He also is co-author of the 6th edition of The Law of Higher Education, the leading treatise in the field. His edited book at the intersection of IP and higher education, Research Handbook on Intellectual Property and Technology Transfer, was published by Edward Elgar in 2020.

Rooksby enjoys a strong connection to the legal profession. He holds law licenses in Pennsylvania, Virginia, and Washington and formerly practiced with McGuireWoods LLP and Dentons Cohen & Grigsby P.C., the latter while a full-time academic. He currently serves as IP Optimization Strategist for FIG. 1 Patents, PLLC, a boutique IP law firm based in Spokane, and is an elected member of the American Law Institute.

Rooksby earned his A.B., summa cum laude, in Hispanic Studies and Government from the College of William & Mary, where he was inducted into Phi Beta Kappa and spent his senior year living amidst costumed interpreters in Colonial Williamsburg. He holds J.D., M.Ed., and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Virginia and completed post-graduate training in higher education leadership and management in 2019 at Harvard University.

An avid enthusiast of the outdoors, Rooksby enjoys hiking, biking, and camping with his daughter throughout the Inland Northwest.

McKenna R. Ford - Associate with Parsons Behle & Latimer

McKenna received her J.D. from the ÁÔÆæÖØ¿Ú School of Law where she graduated with High Honors. While in law school, McKenna served as editor-in-chief for the ÁÔÆæÖØ¿Ú Law Review and worked as a research assistant for a constitutional law professor. McKenna helped research and edit a casebook on ÁÔÆæÖØ¿Ú constitutional law.

Prior to law school, McKenna attended the ÁÔÆæÖØ¿Ú where she studied Spanish. 

McKenna enjoys spending time with her dogs and running.  

Giles Turner - Partner with Studebaker Brackett

Mr. Turner focuses his practice on assisting inventors and companies with recognizing valuable inventions and preparing and prosecuting patent applications to commercially protect those inventions. He also conducts validity, non-infringement, and freedom-to-operate analyses, and has extensive experience with ex parte appeals and oral hearings before the U.S. Patent Trial and Appeal Board.

• B.S. in Chemical Engineering with highest honors from ÁÔÆæÖØ¿Ú State University.
• J.D. from The University of New Hampshire School of Law, Franklin Pierce Law Center.
• Extensive experience in patent matters relating to semiconductor devices, packaging, and manufacturing processes, in addition to polymers, coatings, pigments, lithium ion and lead acid batteries, medical devices and compositions, food technology, product packaging, munitions, ceramics, orthodontic appliances, engine technology, metallurgy, oil field technology, subterranean resource modelling, automotive components, fencing, construction devices, asset management systems, telemedicine, composites, recycling technologies, and hygiene solutions.
• Represented foreign and domestic companies in patent matters before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office since 2010.
• Annually presented a Patent Practice and Procedure lecture series to foreign patent trainees for over 13 years.
• Admitted to practice in the District of Columbia, Idaho, and ÁÔÆæÖØ¿Ú.
• Registered to practice before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

Paige Griffith, J.D.

Paige Griffith is an attorney, entrepreneur, and legal educator, and the co-founder of Griffith Suazo Law, a boutique online law firm focused on intellectual property, contracts, and brand protection for growing businesses. She is also the founder of The Legal Paige, a nationally recognized legal education platform serving small business owners and creative entrepreneurs.

After beginning her legal career clerking for federal district court judge, Dana L Christensen, Paige combined her litigation and transactional background with her firsthand experience as a photographer to build a practice centered on proactive legal strategy for small business owners. Through Griffith Suazo Law, she advises clients on trademarks, copyright, and contractual risk management, with an emphasis on scalable, compliant business growth.

Paige is a frequent speaker at conferences and events for creatives, where she teaches on intellectual property protection, modern contract drafting, and the evolving legal needs of online and service-based businesses. Her work has been featured in numerous publications and podcasts, and she is known for translating complex legal concepts into clear, practical guidance for both attorneys and entrepreneurs.

   

Drew Simshaw - Professor, William S. Boyd School of Law UNLV

Professor Drew Simshaw specializes in legal technology, artificial intelligence, access to justice, and legal ethics. As a Professor of Law, he brings his extensive experience in legal practice, public interest advocacy, and innovative legal education.

Professor Simshaw holds a B.A. from the University of Washington, a J.D. from Indiana University Maurer School of Law—where he served as Articles Editor for the Federal Communications Law Journal—and an LL.M. in Advocacy with distinction from Georgetown Law.

Prior to joining Boyd Law, he was an Assistant Professor at the Gonzaga University School of Law and a Visiting Associate Professor of Law, Legal Practice at Georgetown University Law Center. He also served as a supervising attorney at Georgetown’s Institute for Public Representation where he advocated for public-interest clients before federal agencies and appellate courts on communications and technology law issues. His work on behalf of individuals with disabilities earned him the 2017 H. Latham Breunig Humanitarian Award from Telecommunications for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing.

Professor Simshaw’s scholarship addresses the ethical challenges of AI in law practice, emerging legal technologies, and the impact of these innovations on legal education and access to justice. His notable publications include the Fordham Law Review article, “Toward National Regulation of Legal Technology: A Path Forward for Access to Justice.” He regularly presents at national conferences, including for the Association of American Law Schools and the Legal Writing Institute, focusing on the ethical and pedagogical dimensions of legal AI.

Jonathan Love is a shareholder at Parsons Behle & Latimer where his practice focuses on trademark and copyright law and IP transactions. Jon is also an adjunct professor at Brigham Young University’s J. Reuben Clark Law School, where he supervises trademark work in the law school’s Law and Entrepreneurship Clinic, and at the University of Utah’s S.J. Quinney College of Law, where he serves as the director of the law school’s IP Clinic.

Cas Laskowski - Associate Librarian; Head of Research, Data & Instruction; Director, Law Library Fellows Program; Technology & Empirical Librarian at James E. Rogers College of Law at the University of Arizona

Casandra (Cas) Laskowski (re-)joined the Daniel F. Cracchiolo Law Library at the University of Arizona on March 1, 2021 as the Technology & Empirical Services Librarian.  Cas comes from the Goodson Law Library at Duke University School of Law where she has been the Technology and Research Services Librarian and Lecturing Fellow since December 2016.  Her areas of interest and expertise include ethical implications of artificial intelligence, privacy, censorship, A2J, and the intersection of national security and individual liberty.

Cas is currently pursuing a masters degree in geospatial information systems and technology. She received her Master’s in Library Science here and a J.D. from the University of Maryland School of Law in 2015.  Prior to pursuing her career as a law librarian, Cas worked as a geospatial analyst in the United States Army and served a fifteen-month tour of duty in Iraq. She is a an IBM and IDEO trained design thinking facilitator, and has facilitated workshops addressing human trafficking, student wellness, and open access to the law.

Cas is active in the American Association of Law Libraries (AALL) and the Southeastern Assn of Law Libraries (SEALL). She has served in a variety of leadership positions such as Treasurer of SEALL, Chair of the Diversity and Inclusion standing committee of AALL, and Chair of the Latino Caucus of AALL.

Jake Rebo – Director of Legal Operations for Nokia

Jake Rebo is Director of Legal Operations for Nokia’s Network Infrastructure Business Group, where he works at the intersection of artificial intelligence, intellectual property, and legal practice. He focuses on helping lawyers, engineers, and product teams responsibly adopt AI by translating emerging regulations and ethical principles into clear, practical guidance for day-to-day use. As the lead AI legal representative for Network Infrastructure and a senior contributor to Nokia’s broader AI legal efforts, Jacob actively partners with teams to move AI from theory to practice, advocating for thoughtful use, reducing friction, and enabling innovation that aligns with evolving regulatory and ethical expectations.

Sean Wilkerson – Acting Director of the Northwest Frontier Community Engagement Office, United States Patent and Trademark Office

Sean Wilkerson is serving as the Acting Director of the Northwest Frontier Community Engagement Office in Bozeman, ÁÔÆæÖØ¿Ú as part of the Office of Public Engagement for the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). In this role he works closely with stakeholders, USPTO colleagues and leadership, federal agency partners, national organizations, and industry to design and implement programs and initiatives that bring innovation resources to independent inventors, small businesses, entrepreneurs, makers, innovator communities, and universities.

Wilkerson uses his experience working across multiple areas of USPTO outreach to consistently contribute to a variety of initiatives across the agency by developing, implementing and collaborating on outreach programming.

Wilkerson joined the USPTO in October of 2008, initially serving in the Global Intellectual Property Academy (GIPA) as an education program specialist for international programing and outreach. There, he managed international training programs focused on enforcement of patents, trademarks, and copyrights and the U.S. patent and trademark system, working with USPTO attaches, U.S. embassies, federal agencies, and foreign governments to develop the programs.

From 2012-2014, Wilkerson served as program manager for the inaugural Select USA Summit, developing the structure and outreach efforts for this U.S. government-wide program housed in the International Trade Administration of the U.S. Department of Commerce. He was responsible for creating the approved funding method, operations, and outline to launch and support the program, which still operates today. 

Wilkerson worked with the New York engagement team to manage and develop the 2015 Future of Urban Innovation Startups Summit in coordination with Columbia University and the USPTO. He later served in the Office of the Undersecretary as an acting Regional Outreach Officer for the Texas Regional Office to help coordinate the office’s opening and to develop stakeholder connections in the region. He also assisted with the stakeholder activities for the opening of the Silicon Valley Regional Office. 

Prior to joining USPTO, Wilkerson served as the Director of Events for the National Association of Homebuilders in Washington, D.C. and as the Ideas Exchange manager for Accenture in Reston, Virginia, where he focused on providing government and military clients with solution-based planning modules to implement changes in operations. 

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IP Day in ÁÔÆæÖØ¿Ú â€“ Past Events

Each year, the organizers build educational programming featuring intellectual property. Past themes have included: IP for Start-Ups, Protecting Innovations in Business, and Ownership and Litigation of Ideas. In 2022, the IPL Section partnered with and hosted the event at ÁÔÆæÖØ¿Ú State University addressing topics on Agriculture & IP in Big Sky Country, particularly the Right to Repair. In 2024, the IPL Section and Blewett School of Law collaborated with the ÁÔÆæÖØ¿Ú State University and ÁÔÆæÖØ¿Ú Technology Transfer Offices to feature a day filled with University-inspired topics.  In 2025, Professor Jorge Contreras presented on his book: The Genome Defense: Inside the Epic Legal Battle to Determine Who Owns Your DNA.

Check out books featured at past events:

• by Jorge Conteras.
• The Branding of the American Mind: How Universities Capture, Manage, and Monetize Intellectual Property and Why It Matters by Jacob Rooksby
• The Right to Repair by Aaron Perzanowski
• You Don’t Own Me: How Mattel v. MGA Entertainment Exposed Barbie’s Dark Side by Orly Lobel

Parking

A parking permit or guest pass is required to park on the UM campus throughout the year, Monday - Friday, 7 a.m.-5 p.m. Daily parking passes for visitors to the University, available for $8.00, are sold online at the with Guest Account set up, at University Police, University Center Bookstore and Info Desk, the Treasury Office in the Lommasson Center, and the cashier’s window at Missoula College. More information, including a map of parking lots around campus and transportation alternatives, can be found at UM's Visitor Parking Page. View a map of the parking lot and law school entrances here. Parking Lot P is the closest lot to the law school.