Events

For centuries, international intellectual property (IP) law has rested on a foundational premise: sovereignty over knowledge and biological resources is exercised exclusively through states and bounded by territory. That premise is now under pressure from two directions at once. The WIPO Treaty on Intellectual Property, Genetic Resources and Associated Traditional Knowledge, adopted in 2024, introduces a mandatory disclosure-of-origin requirement into patent law itself — though its slow path to ratification is its own evidence of how contested this shift remains.

The University of Minnesota Law School is proud to host its first-ever Art Law Series, featuring speakers who will share their knowledge and experience of some of the many ways in which law intersects with the fine arts.  

Join Professor Barbara Welke to discuss her latest publication, Writing with Fire: The Cowboy Suit Tragedy and the Course of a Life. Published by the University of Chicago Press, this book explores a cultural and legal history intertwined with a deeply emotional meditation on the course of life, memory, and the documents that define us.

Join the 41st annual Silha Lecture, “From George Floyd to Operation Metro Surge: Lessons for Speech and Press Advocates,” featuring Leita Walker, a litigator and partner with Ballard Spahr’s Media and Entertainment Law Group.

Join the James H. Binger Center for New Americans for the 2026 Fall Immigration Forum, exploring this year’s theme of Defending Dignity in Immigration Detention. 

Join law school deans, associate and assistant deans, experiential education (ExEd) leaders, and clinicians in Minneapolis for the second Minnesota Law Conference on Experiential Education (MLCEE) as we come together to build community, share best practices, and collaborate on ways to enhance the student experience.

Focusing on the role of ExEd in a modern legal education and targets topics, this event expands on the inaugural 2025 meeting and centers on three forms of legal ExEd: clinics, field placements, and simulation courses.