Edmund J. Sease Receives the Inaugural Drake Law School Adjunct Professor of the Year AwardApril 4, 2022

MVS is very excited to announce that Edmund J. Sease received the Drake University Law School inaugural Adjunct Professor of the Year Award at the Drake Law School Supreme Court Celebration Banquet on Saturday, April 2. This award was presented to Ed for his long service and lasting legacy to the law school.

“I am thrilled and extremely proud of my father on his receiving this prestigious award for all his great efforts at Drake Law School”, said Heidi S. Nebel, Managing Partner and Chair of the Chemical and Biotechnology Practice Group at MVS. “It is a great honor for him to be recognized by the faculty and deans for all his 46 years of teaching at the Law School and educating over 700 students”

A 1967 graduate of Drake Law School, Ed has been teaching at the school since 1976 and he is considered the “father” of intellectual property law in the state of Iowa. Since Ed’s efforts to establish a patent law class in his last year of law school, the intellectual property law curriculum has grown to include courses in Patent Law, Patent Office Practice, Copyright Law, Trademark and Unfair Competition Law, Licensing and Intellectual Property Litigation. Thanks to Ed’s perseverance and vision of what the law school needed, the Intellectual Property program at Drake Law School continues to be one of the premier academic offerings in the country.

Just recently, in recognition for all of his contributions, the law school created a permanent endowment for an intellectual property professor to serve as The Edmund J. Sease Faculty Research Scholar. This named professorship will provide the resources for a Law School professor, who has distinguished themselves in their field, to pursue their legal interests with an emphasis on teaching, research and public speaking.

As a further testament to his dedication and service to the law school, Ed conceived and organized the Drake Law Review Spring 2021 Intellectual Property Special Edition Issue dedicated to controversial and timely patent law topics. This publication contained articles that were authored by several prominent practitioners in the field of law. He was recognized for his tremendous efforts in putting together this Drake Law Review special issue at an event held at the school. He was presented with a plaque that in part reads: The Drake Law Review recognizes Ed Sease, for overall support and dedication to the Drake Law Review during the 2020-2021 school year as selected by the Editorial Board and Staff Members of the Law Review. A copy of the publication can be found on the Drake Law Review website.

Drake Law School News Release