September 22, 2022 — Banner Witcoff has awarded two law students the Donald W. Banner Diversity Fellowship. Created to strengthen diversity and inclusion in intellectual property law, the Fellowship provides recipients with $5,000 for law school tuition or other school-related expenses.
The Donald W. Banner Diversity Fellowship is open to law students who identify as members of a historically underrepresented group in intellectual property law and meet certain criteria, including academic merit, a commitment to the pursuit of a career in the field, and demonstrated leadership qualities. As part of the Fellowship, first-and-second-year law students participate in Banner Witcoff’s summer associate program. The firm has awarded over $150,000 to law students since the Fellowship started.
“Arash and Sandy were fantastic summer associates who made great contributions to the firm and we congratulate them for receiving this well-deserved award,” said Lyssa-Michelle Morris Banner Witcoff’s Diversity & Inclusion Committee co-chair.
Diversity & Inclusion Committee co-chair Azuka Dike added, “We enjoyed getting to know Arash and Sandy this summer and know they will become pillars of the IP legal community.”
The 2022 Donald W. Banner Diversity Fellowship recipients:
- Arash Sayyah, is currently a third-year law student at the University of New Hampshire School of Law. He earned his B.S. and M.S. degree, and his Ph.D. in electrical and electronics engineering from Shahid Beheshti University, the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, and Boston University, respectively.
- Alexandra “Sandy” Rokhlin, is currently a third-year law student at The George Washington University Law School. She graduated from Binghamton University with a B.A. in English Rhetoric. After she completed the firm’s summer associate program, she began working at the U.S. Copyright Office.
Donald W. Banner (1924-2006) — the namesake of the fellowship and firm — was a leader in the field of patent law. A former U.S. Commissioner of Patents and Trademarks, he was chairman of the American Bar Association Section of Intellectual Property Law, president of the American Intellectual Property Law Association, a founding member of the Association of Corporate Patent Counsel, president of the International Patent and Trademark Association, co-founder and president of the Intellectual Property Owners Association and director of The John Marshall Law School Center for Intellectual Property Law.
Posted: September 22, 2022
