For Practitioners Specializing in Intellectual Property Law 

The Judge Paul R. Michel Intellectual Property American Inn of Court (formerly Los Angeles Intellectual Property American Inn of Court) promotes skill improvement, professionalism and legal ethics. It does so primarily through collegial discourse and mentoring during monthly meetings at which "Teams" are central. The Teams employ skits intended to provoke thought and discussion on topics of interest to the profession.

Team members assume roles to simulate situations and issues for identified topics. In this manner, teams convey valuable information and provoke participation of leading Attorneys and Judges in the audience

Unique because it is one of only a handful of Inns to specialize in the field of intellectual property law, the Judge Paul R. Michel Intellectual Property Inn was chartered in January 2008. A core group has grown thisInnto a strong organization of leaders participating in a major regular exchange of intellectual property knowledge.

The Judge Paul R. Michel Intellectual Property American Inn of Court holds monthly program meetings in the City of Los Angelesat the Kyoto Hotel and Gardens. In keeping with the collegial practice of the British Inns, a "host" organization provides food (dinner) and drink (wine, beer, and soft drinks) to foster social exchange following the formal presentation portion of the meeting.

History of the American Inns

The American Inns of Court concept was the product of a discussion in the late 1970's among the United States' members of the Anglo-American exchange of lawyers and judges, including Chief Justice Warren E. Burger and Chief Judge of the Ninth Circuit J. Clifford Wallace. Chief Justice Burger recognized the benefits of training received in the English Inns and subsequently invited Rex E. Lee (then Dean of the J. Reuben Clark School of Law at Brigham Young University and later United States Solicitor General) and Dallin Oaks (then president of Brigham Young University and later Justice of the Utah Supreme Court) to test the idea.

At the suggestion of Rex Lee, a pilot program was entrusted to Senior United States District Court Judge A. Sherman Christensen, who honed the idea into a feasible concept. The first American Inn of Court was founded in 1980 in the Provo/Salt Lake City area of Utah, and included law students from Brigham Young University. Within the next three years, additional American Inns formed in Utah, Mississippi, Hawaii, New York, and Washington, D.C.

In 1983, Chief Justice Burger created a committee of the Judicial Conference of the United States to explore whether the American Inn concept was of value to the administration of justice and, if so, whether there should be a national organization to promote, establish and assist American Inns, and promote the goals of legal excellence, civility, professionalism and ethics on a national level. The committee reported to the Judicial Conference affirmatively on the two questions and proposed the creation of the American Inns of Court Foundation. The Judicial Conference approved the reports and, thus, endorsed the American Inn concept and the formation of a national structure. In 1985, the American Inns of Court Foundation was formally organized.

At the inaugural meeting of our Inn held on March 18, 2008, Chief Judge Paul Michel and Associate Justice Linn, Court of Appeal for the Federal Circuit, as well as U.S. Central District Court Judges Alice Marie Stotler and Andrew Guilford were led in a panel by our founding member Robert Krupka to discuss Trial and Appeal Strategies to Win Intellectual Property Cases.

The Judge Paul R. Michel Intellectual Property Inn as a part of the American Inns of Court movement continues to link law students, law professors, practicing lawyers and judges as part of a lifelong web for the maintenance of high ethical standards of behavior in maintaining the rule of law in Los Angeles and wherever we preside or practice.