EAST LANSING, Mich. – U.S. News & World Report has again named the Intellectual Property and Communications Law Program at Michigan State University College of Law one of the nation’s top intellectual property law programs in its 2007 rankings of law schools.

Out of the 180 law schools accredited by the American Bar Association, the magazine ranked the MSU law program among the nation’s top 20 and the best among the Big Ten law schools. The program is currently ranked 17th in the country, two places ahead of last year’s ranking.

“I am very pleased to see this recognition of our Intellectual Property and Communications Law Program,” said Terence L. Blackburn, MSU College of Law dean. “Professor Peter Yu and the MSU law faculty have worked hard to build a comprehensive academic program that combines theory and practice, domestic and international law.

“Peter and his MSU law colleagues are leading intellectual property scholars on a national and international level. They are an excellent resource, not only for our students but, through conferences and symposia hosted by the College of Law, for academics and practitioners around the world.”

Founded less than three years ago by Yu, the program was the youngest to receive the magazine’s recognition for superior curriculum, legal training, scholarship and academic enrichment last year. Since its establishment, the program has hosted a wide variety of academic conferences, including a recent symposium in Hong Kong, prior to the Sixth World Trade Organization Ministerial Conference. The program also offers regular lectures and workshops featuring prominent scholars, industry leaders, policy makers and practitioners.

“We are deeply honored to be recognized in a year when we celebrated the university’s sesquicentennial,” said Yu, a leading expert in international intellectual property and communications law and a core faculty member of the university’s Asian Studies Center.

“The continuous recognition will help us attract to this young program top students, faculty and visiting scholars from around the world. It also will allow us to try out bold new ideas to enrich our academic offerings and enhance the College of Law’s international presence,” he said.

The magazine’s specialty rankings were determined based on an annual survey sent to legal educators listed in the directory of the Association of American Law Schools. "Our program has an unusual global, interdisciplinary bent, with an emphasis on solving real-life problems," Yu added. “I am very glad that our unique approach has earned recognition among our peers.”

The program’s full-time faculty consists of two distinguished scholars in intellectual property, a former attorney-adviser from the Federal Communications Commission, a leading scholar in First Amendment law, and two nationally recognized experts in international trade and sports law. It offers more than 25 courses in the field, a master’s program in intellectual property and communications law for both lawyers and non-lawyers, and a first-year legal writing course focused on intellectual property.

The program is strongly supported by the MSU College of Communication Arts and Sciences, which has the nation’s best doctoral program in communication technology, according to the National Communication Association. It also works closely with the Quello Center for Telecommunication Management and Law and the highly respected technology law faculty of the University of Ottawa, with which the College of Law offers the joint American J.D. and Canadian LL.B. program.

For detailed information about the Intellectual Property and Communications Law Program, visit http://www.law.msu.edu/ipclp.

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MSU College of Law was founded as the Detroit College of Law in 1891. The college affiliated with MSU in 1995 and moved to MSU’s East Lansing campus in 1997. Today, the college remains one of the nation’s oldest continually operating independent law schools and one of only two private law schools to be affiliated with a research university.