Program on Private Law call for fellowship applicants in private law and IP

PROJECT ON THE FOUNDATIONS OF PRIVATE LAW

POSTDOCTORAL FELLOWSHIP IN PRIVATE LAW AND INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY, 2019

CALL FOR APPLICATIONS

PURPOSE: The Project on the Foundations of Private Law is an interdisciplinary research program at Harvard Law School dedicated to scholarly research in private law.   Applicants should be aspiring academics with a primary interest in intellectual property (especially, patent, copyright, trademark and trade secret) and its connection to one or more of property, contracts, torts, commercial law, unjust enrichment, restitution, equity, and remedies. The Project welcomes applicants with a serious interest in legal structures and institutions, and welcomes a variety of perspectives, including economics, history, philosophy, and comparative law. The Qualcomm Postdoctoral Fellowship in Private Law and Intellectual Property is a specifically designed to identify, cultivate, and promote promising IP scholars early in their careers. Fellows are selected from among recent graduates, young academics, and mid-career practitioners who are committed to spending one or two years at the Project pursuing publishable research that is likely to make a significant contribution to the IP and private law, broadly conceived. More information on the Center can be found at: http://www.law.harvard.edu/programs/about/privatelaw/index.html.

PROGRAM: The Qualcomm Postdoctoral Fellowship in Private Law and Intellectual Property is a full-time, one- or two-year residential appointment, starting in the Fall of 2019. Like other postdoctoral fellows, IP Fellows devote their full time to scholarly activities in furtherance of their individual research agendas in intellectual property and private law. The Project does not impose teaching obligations on fellows, although fellows may teach a seminar on the subject of their research in the Spring of their second year. In addition to pursuing their research and writing, fellows are expected to attend and participate in research workshops on private law, and other events designated by the Project. Fellows are also expected to help plan and execute a small number of events during their fellowship, and to present their research in at least one of a variety of forums, including academic seminars, speaker panels, or conferences. Through organizing events with outside speakers, helping to run programs, and attending seminars, fellows interact with a broad range of leading scholars in intellectual property and private law. The Project also relies on fellows to provide opportunities for interested students to consult with them about their areas of research, and to directly mentor its Student Fellows. Finally, fellows will be expected to blog periodically (about twice per month) on our collaborative blog, New Private Law (blogs.harvard.edu/nplblog).

STIPEND AND BENEFITS: Fellows have access to a wide range of resources offered by Harvard University. The Center provides each fellow with office space, library access, and a standard package of benefits for employee postdoctoral fellows at the Law School.  The annual stipend will be $55,000 per year.

ELIGIBILITY: By the start of the fellowship term, applicants must hold a J.D. or other graduate law degree. The Center particularly encourages applications from those who intend to pursue careers as tenure-track law professors in intellectual property and private law, but will consider any applicant who demonstrates an interest and ability to produce outstanding scholarship in the area. Applicants will be evaluated by the quality and probable significance of their research proposals, and by their record of academic and professional achievement.

APPLICATION: Completed applications should be addressed to Bradford Conner, and must be received at conner@law.harvard.edu by 9:00 a.m. on February 15, 2019. Please note that ALL application materials must be submitted electronically, and should include:

1. Curriculum Vitae

2. PDFs of transcripts from all post-secondary schools attended.

3. A Research Proposal of no more than 2,000 words describing the applicant’s area of research and writing plans. Research proposals should demonstrate that the applicant has an interesting and original idea about a research topic that is sufficiently promising to develop further.

4. A writing sample that demonstrates the applicant’s writing and analytical abilities and ability to generate interesting, original ideas. This can be a draft rather than a publication.  Applicants who already have publications may also submit PDF copies of up to two additional published writings.

5. Three letters of recommendation, emailed directly from the recommender. Letter writers should be asked to comment not only on the applicant’s writing and analytical ability, but on his or her ability to generate new ideas and his or her commitment to pursue an intellectual enterprise in intellectual property and private law. To the extent feasible, letter writers should provide not just qualitative assessments but also ordinal rankings. For example, rather than just saying a candidate is “great,” it would be useful to have a statement about whether the candidate is (the best, in the top three, among the top 10%, etc.) among some defined set of persons (students they have taught, people they have worked with, etc.).

All application materials with the exception of letters of recommendation should be e-mailed by the applicant to conner@law.harvard.edu. Letters of Recommendation should be emailed directly from the recommender to the same address.

For questions or additional information, contact: Bradford Conner, Coordinator, conner@law.harvard.edu.