Rising 3L Hector Leal-Brol was named the recipient of the State Bar of Texas Intellectual Property Law Section's Women and Minority Scholarship at the Section Awards Luncheon of the Annual Meeting on June 17 in Fort Worth.
According to the State Bar, the purpose of scholarship “is to facilitate and encourage women and minorities to enter the practice of intellectual property law in Texas, and to become active members of the State Bar IP Section, by assisting these students with their financial needs.”
Extracurricular activities both inside and outside law school are also an important factor in the selection process.
Professor Peter Yu, Professor Brian Holland and Professor Saurabh Vishnubhakat attended the awards ceremony in support of Leal-Brol.
Yu, co-director of the Center for Law and Intellectual Property (CLIP), taught Leal-Brol in both the Copyright Law class and the International Intellectual Property Seminar. He said it’s a “tremendous honor” to have one of CLIP’s students recognized by the IP Section of the State Bar of Texas.
“We [the law school] have a longstanding relationship with the bench and the bar,” he said. “Hector has a strong interest in patent law and has performed very well in the classroom. We are proud to have him as part of our IP law program."
Holland said Leal-Brol was a great fit for the scholarship because it also recognizes potential.
“In the classroom and beyond, Hector is taking advantage of the many excellent opportunities offered to IP students by Texas A&M School of Law and the DFW legal community,” he said.
Leal-Brol said it was a “great honor” to represent Texas A&M University School of Law at the State Bar of Texas Annual Meeting. He said such recognition wouldn’t have been possible for him or anyone else without CLIP facilitating and encouraging students' involvement with the IP community.
“Moreover, I am forever grateful for the contagious passion for Intellectual Property that Professors Yu, Vishnubhakat, Holland, and the rest of the IP faculty instill in students since it is the driving force behind my desire to succeed in the patent law field,” he said.
- Article by Jennifer Nassar, Communications Specialist, Texas A&M University School of Law