Action and Impact: A New Year for the NCBA Intellectual Property Law Section
The beginning of a new bar year offers a useful opportunity to consider what makes a professional organization valuable to its members. For the North Carolina Bar Association’s Intellectual Property Law Section, the answer begins with the strength of the community itself. Lawyers practicing across a wide range of intellectual property disciplines, in different settings and at different stages of their careers, share an interest in learning from one another and contributing to the profession.
As IP lawyers, much of our work begins with ideas. We advise inventors, creators, businesses, and institutions as they develop those ideas into something more tangible. That might be an invention that can be patented, a brand that can be built and protected, creative expression that carries legal rights, technology that can be licensed or intellectual assets that can be commercialized and put to productive use. We are accustomed to helping clients move from possibility to execution.
The Section enters the 2026-2027 year with that same mindset and considerable energy. Our theme for the year is Action and Impact. It reflects a commitment to active programming, meaningful professional relationships and greater opportunities for members to participate in the life of the Section.
The aim is simple. We want to make membership useful, engaging and worth showing up for.
Building an Active Section
The IP Section has long provided excellent substantive programming, including its annual CLE and the work of its many practice-area and subject-matter committees. This year, we hope to build on that foundation by creating more frequent and varied opportunities for members to connect.
That effort will include CLE and professional development, networking programs, social events, wellness activities, pro bono opportunities and virtual programming. The Section also plans to expand its presence on NCBarBlog, with contributions from members representing the many forms of intellectual property practice.
The variety is intentional. A statewide Section serves lawyers with different schedules, interests, practices and professional needs. Some members may be drawn primarily to substantive programs. Others may be looking for professional relationships, opportunities to serve or a chance to learn from lawyers whose practices differ from their own. A healthy Section should provide several points of entry.
We also want those points of entry to extend to law students interested in intellectual property. For many students, an interest in IP develops before they have a clear sense of what an IP practice looks like or where they might fit within it. Where appropriate, we hope to invite law students to attend events, meet practicing lawyers, learn about the range of careers within intellectual property and begin building relationships within North Carolina’s IP community. Their participation also gives our members an opportunity to share what they have learned and help strengthen the next generation of the IP bar.
The coming year will also be a year of experimentation. New programs give us an opportunity to learn what draws participation, where members see value and what deserves to become part of the Section’s longer-term programming.
Strengthening the Membership Community
Member engagement will be a particular focus this year.
One small example is the One Friend Challenge. Before attending a Section event, members are encouraged to reach out to one other person and invite that person to participate. The invitation might go to a colleague who has never attended an event, a longtime member who has not been involved recently, a newer lawyer, a law student interested in IP or someone whose practice would add a useful perspective.
That kind of outreach matters. A single invitation or introduction can make the difference between observing the Section from a distance and becoming part of it.
We also want to hear directly from our members. What programming would be valuable? What issues deserve attention? What opportunities are missing? IP lawyers spend a great deal of time asking questions that help reveal what a client is actually trying to accomplish. The Section should bring the same discipline to understanding its membership, and the answers should help shape both this year’s activities and the Section’s direction in the years that follow.
Leadership for the Year Ahead
The Section is fortunate to have a strong group of leaders and volunteers guiding that work.
Andy Prokopetz will serve as Vice-Chair, Cherrel Harris as Secretary and Allyn Elliott as Treasurer. Their judgment, ideas and commitment will be essential throughout the year, as will the work of our Council members, committee chairs and volunteers. Each of them has contributed countless volunteer hours toward section-related activities and programming over the past several years, and I look forward to leveraging their institutional knowledge.
We are also grateful to Erica Rogers, our Immediate Past Chair, for her leadership and service to the Section. Each bar year builds on the work of those who came before it, and Erica’s leadership has provided a strong foundation for the year ahead. Erica began her term in office with a vision to grow three pillars of the Section: community, wellness and future-facing inclusion. She made great strides in these areas during her tenure as Chair, and we hope to keep making her vision a reality with our membership engagement effort this year.
This year also brings a renewed emphasis on membership and outreach, with KimberMarie Faircloth serving as Membership and Outreach Chair. Her role will be especially important as the Section works to welcome new members, reconnect existing members, and create meaningful opportunities for lawyers and future lawyers throughout the state to become involved.
The strength of the Section has always extended well beyond its formal leadership. Our committees reflect the breadth of intellectual property practice, and our members bring perspectives from private practice, in-house roles, government, academia and other professional settings. The Section is stronger when members bring their professional skills into its committees, programs, service projects and conversations.
Finding a Place to Participate
There will be many ways to take part in the Section this year.
Members can attend a CLE or networking program, join a committee, contribute to NCBarBlog, participate in a pro bono initiative, speak on a panel, attend a social or wellness event, suggest a program or simply make a point of meeting someone new. Some members will participate frequently. Others may choose one or two opportunities that particularly suit their interests. Both are valuable.
Members should also feel free to bring ideas that are not already on the calendar. IP lawyers know better than most that an undeveloped idea can be the beginning of something worthwhile. It may need refinement, additional contributors, resources or a practical path to implementation. That is precisely where a community can help. If there is a program you would like to attend, a subject you think deserves discussion, a service opportunity the Section should consider or a better way for members to connect, we want to hear it.
The Section should also be a place where newer lawyers, law students and first-time participants can find a path into the broader IP community. Those who have been involved for years can help by making introductions and sharing their experience. Those who are newer should feel encouraged to offer ideas and become involved early.
The most successful year will be one in which more members find a reason to participate and more members see the Section as a resource they actively use.
Action and Impact
There is much to look forward to in the 2026-2027 bar year. The calendar will be active, the programming will be varied and the Section will continue looking for new ways to serve its members and strengthen the broader IP community.
If you have been closely involved with the Section, we hope you will stay engaged and help bring others into the community. If you have not participated recently, this is an excellent year to return. If you are new to the Section, we hope you will join us at an event and find an opportunity that interests you. If you are a law student interested in intellectual property, we hope you will look for opportunities to join us as well.
Our profession is built around helping people move ideas forward. Those same instincts can help shape the Section. A strong Section grows through ideas that people are willing to develop, relationships they are willing to invest in, and sustained effort that turns possibility into something useful.
I look forward to serving as your Chair and, even more, to seeing what the IP Section can accomplish together. So, join us and help turn this momentum into impact.