Molly Carr ’20 Receives The 2020 Dolores K. Hanna Trademark Prize

Molly Carr ’20 has won the Chicago-Kent College of Law 2020 Dolores K. Hanna Trademark Prize. The prize was established in 2006 by Bell Boyd and Lloyd (now K&L Gates) to honor Dolores K. Hanna ’52, who served as the firm's special trademark counsel.

The prize is awarded to one or more Chicago-Kent students based on outstanding performance in an intellectual property course. Recipients are selected by faculty who teach in the law school's program in Intellectual Property Law.

A graduate of Miami University with a bachelor's degree in marketing, Carr credits faculty members Mickie Piatt and Heather Harper in her enrollment in the Chicago-Kent IP program.

“Before I was a student, I attended the Chicago-Kent open house event and spoke with both of them at length about how the program worked and what opportunities would be available to me,” says Carr. “They were beyond helpful and patient in answering the endless number of questions I had.”

“Molly's hard work and enthusiasm for trademark practice carries on the tradition of Dolores Hanna," says Associate Professor Mickie Piatt, who taught Carr in Trademarks.

“I’ve honestly loved every second of being at Kent, but the most enjoyable aspect by far has been the IP program,” says Carr. I’ve loved the wide range of classes available to me, and it's wonderful how engaged all the professors are and are willing to go above and beyond for their students. I’m especially grateful to Professor Piatt for all the help and guidance she has given me over the past three years.”

While in law school, Carr was involved in the Saul Lefkowitz Moot Court; Women in Law Society; and Phi Alpha Delta, Blackstone Chapter. Carr also worked as an intern for Harper in the Entrepreneurial Law Clinic. Last summer Carr worked as a summer associate for the Chicago-based IP firm Norvell IP.

“The experience I got working in Professor Harper’s Entrepreneurial Law Clinic helped me get my summer associate position,” she explains. “What the IP program really does is prepare its students for the real world of being an IP attorney and I’ll be forever grateful for it.”

Carr has accepted a full-time position with Norvell IP, post-bar.

Hanna practiced intellectual property law with distinction for more than 50 years before retiring from active practice in 2006. Prior to joining Bell Boyd & Lloyd in 2000, she practiced at the law firm of Hill & Simpson and also served as trademark counsel for Kraft Foods Inc. From 1985 to 1987 she chaired the federal Trademark Review Commission and recommended changes that were enacted into the Trademark Law Revision Act of 1988, the first comprehensive update of trademark law since passage of the Lanham Act in 1946. Hanna served as president of the International Trademark Association, the Intellectual Property Law Association of Chicago, the Women's Bar Association of Illinois, the Women's Bar Foundation, and the Cook County Court Watchers.

Chicago-Kent currently offers a J.D. certificate program in intellectual property law. In 2002 it became the first American law school to offer a one-year LL.M. degree in international intellectual property law.