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 pursuing a career in the field and demonstrated leadership qualities. The firm has awarded $200,000 to law students since the program was established.
The 2024 Donald W. Banner Diversity Fellowship recipients:
- Dasha Ignatova is a first-year law student at Loyola University Chicago School of Law. She received her Bachelor’s degree in Biomedical and Medical Engineering from the University of Minnesota.
- Jingcheng Shi is a first-year law student at Cornell Law School. He graduated from Huazhong University of Science and Technology with a Bachelor of Engineering, Electrical Engineering and Automation, and a Minor in Law.
As part of the Fellowship, first- and second-year law students participate in Banner Witcoff’s summer associate program.
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: July 25, 2024
