Santa Clara University

Engineering a Career in Patent Law

Elizabeth Marie Nixon Morris '06

By Susan Vogel

Elizabeth Marie Nixon Morris '06 combines her love of engineering and IP law.

If a jury expected a high tech patent litigation case to be boring, Elizabeth Morris would surely change their minds. Morris—a ballet dancer turned engineer turned patent prosecutor and litigator—has a way of changing a technical patent issue into an intriguing mystery to be cracked. Her fascination with technology and her enthusiasm for learning is contagious.

Morris studied in Purdue’s honors engineering program (offered to approximately the top five percent of the incoming class), graduating with a B.S. in mechanical engineering and a minor in dance. In high school in Indiana, she took AP courses in science, math, and English. As an undergrad she saw that many engineers couldn’t write. “I was always the person writing the lab report,” she says.

Morris with her son, Nicholas, who was born during her third year of law school. Photo by Kaiyen

After hearing a speaker in an engineering class talk about patent prosecution, Morris decided that it would be a perfect way to combine her engineering degree with her interest in writing. After graduating from Purdue in 2001, she and her husband, Brian, a fellow engineer, moved to the Bay Area.

Morris chose Santa Clara Law because of its high ranking in IP law, with the goal of becoming a patent prosecutor (she had already become a member of the patent bar). Once enrolled, she took advantage of the abundant opportunities it offered in IP: the Munich international high tech law program, a civil and high tech internship, and even a position as a research assistant for Donald Chisum, author of Chisum on Patents. She also capitalized on the many networking opportunities offered in the high tech area (as well as the bimonthly “bar review” held in a tavern).

Morris became editor-in-chief of the Santa Clara Computer & High Technology Law Journal (which ranked third in the nation among high tech law journals), and president of the Intellectual Property Association.

Upon graduation in 2006, Morris joined Morgan Lewis & Bockius. She entered her field of choice, patent prosecution, but with the addition of something she had never considered, patent litigation. “I am nothing like the lawyers on the TV shows,” she says, “I didn’t do Moot Court and I even skipped the tour of the courthouse. But when I started interviewing, people would say ‘you’re a litigator.’ I wasn’t sure, but I clicked with those who were.” Morgan Lewis was one of the few firms that would allow her to do both patent prosecution and litigation.

Morris finds both areas of practice fun and challenging. Patent prosecution—securing a patent for a new idea—always involves cutting-edge technology, which fascinates the engineer in Morris. Patent litigation, where the dispute is whether a product is in violation of the patent of another, involves delving deeply into the meanings of words and writing persuasively. Counseling clients, including creative startups with exciting design ideas (“at brown bag lunches in lofts in San Francisco”) is also exciting.

Morris says SCU prepared her well for this work. “I felt like I knew my stuff coming out—I had the skills that I needed in these areas of law. I got a really good base for what patent law is about. The High Tech Law Institute makes sure all this happens,” she says.

Besides top academics, Santa Clara is a very friendly place, says Morris. “Maybe it’s the Jesuit influence, but there is a real collegial attitude. People want to help other people. The students are happy, maybe because the professors are pretty darn nice. I don’t know how a school develops a personality, but at SCU it is very warm. Kind of like a family.”

Speaking of families, it’s too early to know whether her son Nicholas—nearly three and born during Morris’ third year of law school—will follow in her footsteps or her pirouettes: they are currently taking a parent/child ballet class. The family is expecting a brother for Nicholas in July.

SUSAN VOGEL is a frequent contributor to Santa Clara Law.