Keeping up with Keala: Meet Professor Cynthia Ho!

Hi all!

Ever wonder what professors of the law are actually like? If you’ve ever seen The Paper Chase or Legally Blonde, rest easy, because Loyola’s professors are nothing like that! In fact, every professor I’ve met thus far is very personable, genuinely cares about their students, and wants to help each one of their students succeed. This week, I had the pleasure of getting to better know one of my professors: Professor Ho.

Professor Ho teaches courses in Intellectual Property, Patent Law, Comparative Patent Law, Policy and Health Care, and Civil Procedure. Prior to joining Loyola, Professor Ho was an associate at Fish & Neave (now the Fish & Neave IP group of Ropes & Gray), where she litigated high-technology cases involving patents, trade secrets and unfair competition. In addition, as a member of the Patent Bar, she drafted and prosecuted patent applications both domestically and internationally.

While sitting down with Professor Ho, I asked her a variety of questions about her legal career, why she chose to be a professor of the law at Loyola, and what advice she has for prospective law students.

Why IP?

Like many young aspiring law students, Professor Ho did not always know she wanted to practice Intellectual Property (IP). When Professor Ho was a 2L, she interviewed at a Commercial Litigation firm, a Food and Drug Law firm, an Environmental law firm, and an IP law firm, and it just so happened that Professor Ho liked the IP firm best!

Most interesting case?

Trade Secret case! (A trade secret is basically a secret with commercial value. It can include a formula, process, etc.) In this particular case, Professor Ho’s firm attempted to file a motion for summary judgment regarding a conflict of law. (Summary judgment is a motion seeking judgment either on a single issue or to terminate the case completely/get the case tossed out of court). They argued that Italian law on trade secrets governed instead of some specific state law, and because Italian law does not recognize trade secrets, there should be no case!

Wow.

Why a professor at Loyola?

Professor Ho always wanted to be a teacher. After attending a job fair for law professors, she interviewed and received an offer from Loyola to teach both IP and Civil Procedure, two of her top choices.

Words of Wisdom?

“In terms of choosing a law school, it’s really important to choose a good fit for you. […] There are different things that work for different people. [Loyola] is a student-centered, student-supported environment [because we have] ungraded midterms and tutors. For people that like to help each other, this is a great place.”

We could not have said it better! Loyola is a community. We each thrive on the successes of our classmates.

Professor Ho has been an asset to Loyola. She is dedicated to making each one of her students succeed both in the classroom and out in the real world as a practicing attorney. Not to mention she always has candy if you need a pick-me-up. Professor Ho is just one of the many professors that will go above and beyond for her students. And we are so lucky to have her!

Thanks for reading this week, and stay tuned  as I talk about my weekend in Washington D.C. for the NAPABA (National Asian Pacific American Bar Association) Conference!

Loxley

Loxley Keala is a 1L at Loyola University Chicago School of Law.  She is blogging about the journey of her first year of law school. To search all posts written by her search the Loxley category on the right hand side. Questions for Loxley? Email law-admissions@luc.edu with the subject “Ask Loxley” and she will make sure to answer them in a future post.

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