I managed to get to the AIPLA annual meeting downtown here in D.C. on Saturday. It was pretty fun and interesting, although of course I don't understand most of the seminars yet.

The Saturday luncheon was with Congressman Lamar Smith, Chairman of the IP subcomittee. He talked about the importance of protecting intellectual property as more and more of our economy depends on it, and the importance as well of stopping diversion of funds from the Patent and Trademark Office. He urged everyone to call their representatives, etc., to urge them to stop the fee diversion and help the PTO do their job better -- there was big applause for that. :) A new president was sworn in as well, whom I met later at the AIPLA PAC reception, and commented that the FTC speaker the previous day had not received any applause... L. Smith got at least 2, plus a standing ovation at the end... ;)

I also attended a meeting of the Young Lawyers' Committee, which was helpful in giving me an idea of the different career paths and options available...

At the dinner, the first AIPLA Presidential Award was given for Judge Howard Thomas Markey, of the U.S. Court of Customs and Patent Appeals. He has had an amazing life, and it was a moving presentation, although he was unable to attend due to failing health. His son accepted the award in his place. I was particularly surprised to learn about a mission he was on during WWII in which his plane was shot (he was a pilot), and he was hit. He wrapped his belt around his leg to keep it on the brakes as he landed, because he knew he was losing consciousness due to loss of blood. The plane landed and rolled to a stop with 2000 rounds in it, and everyone else in the plane had been killed.

On another interesting note, my father clerked for Judge Markey for a year -- I'll have to talk to him about it more sometime. :)

I also was able to meet up with a number of lawyer-contacts of Japanese, Chinese, and other national origins, and had a good time talking with them all.

Unfortunately, now I'm manically attempting to finish the draft of my open memo due Friday night. It's on the nuisance law of Wisconsin. This is the first time I've had to research something almost totally open-ended, and it's crazy. I'm just _barely_ beginning to get the hang of it. It's going to be very tight.

I'm also going to a wedding this weekend, and have been invited to at least 2 events next weekend, and have to study for exams, and still learn the things we're doing in class now. Classes end at the end of November. This is crazy.