Title 37—Patents, Trademarks, and Copyrights--Volume 1
PART 234—LAW STUDENT REPRESENTATIVES
§ 234.1   Law student representatives.
(a) Eligibility for appearance —(1) State law compliance. Any law student who is affiliated with a law school clinic or a pro bono legal services organization with a connection to the student's law school is qualified under applicable laws governing representation by law students of parties in legal proceedings, and meets the other requirements of this section may appear before the Copyright Claims Board (Board). Applicable laws are the laws, court rules, or bar rules of the jurisdiction that allow, authorize, or permit the student to practice law in conjunction with a law school clinic or pro bono legal services organization with a connection to the student's law school.
(2) Pro bono representation. Any law student who appears before the Board must provide representation on a pro bono basis.
(3) Competency. Law student representatives must meet a standard of competency. For the purpose of appearances before the Board, competency includes successful completion of—
(i) The first year of studies at an American Bar Association-accredited law school;
(ii) Training in relevant copyright law, as determined by the supervising clinic or pro bono organization; and
(iii) Review of the Board's regulations found in this subchapter, and of the Copyright Alternative in Small-Claims Enforcement Act of 2020 statutory text, as codified at chapter 15 of title 17 of the United States Code.
(b) Client consent. The law student representative shall have the written consent of the client to appear on that client's behalf.
(c) Attorney supervision. A law student who appears on behalf of a party in a proceeding before the Board shall be supervised by an attorney who is qualified under applicable state law governing representation by law students, as specified in paragraph (a) of this section. In supervising the law student, the attorney shall adhere to any rules regarding participant conduct.
(d) Confirmation of eligibility. In accordance with the standards of professional conduct set forth in paragraph (j) of this section, the attorney supervising the work of the law student representative is responsible for confirming the law student's eligibility to appear before the Board as set forth in paragraph (a) of this section.
(e) Signature and assent. The law student representative or supervising attorney shall electronically or physically sign each document submitted to the Board on behalf of the law student's client. If the law student representative signs, the law student must identify the name of the supervising attorney on all documents signed by the law student representative. The law student must certify that the law student sought and obtained the supervising attorney's assent to the submission.
(f) Notice of appearance. In any proceeding in which a law student appears on behalf of a party, a notice of appearance shall be filed identifying the law student representative, the supervising attorney, and the law school clinic or pro bono legal organization with which they are affiliated, unless already identified in the party's claim, counterclaim, or response.
(g) Filing documents. All filings by a law student representative shall be made with the knowledge of the supervising attorney, who shall maintain an association with the law student representative in the Board's electronic filing system (eCCB). Supervising attorneys and law students shall maintain their own accounts in eCCB. A notice of withdrawal, and a notice of appearance if applicable, shall be filed whenever the identity of a law student representative or a supervising attorney has changed.
(h) Appearance at hearings and conferences. A supervising attorney shall accompany the law student representative to any hearings and conferences held in the course of the proceeding, absent leave of the Board for the law student to appear without a supervising attorney present.
(i) Responsibility for continuity of case management. The supervising attorney shall be responsible for all aspects of case management, including appearances and withdrawals, as well as continuity of representation during law school term transitions.
(j) Applicability of rules of professional conduct. Law student representatives are equally subject to any rules regarding participant conduct as any other attorney representatives. The supervising attorney has professional responsibility for the actions of the law student representative. The Board may hold supervising attorneys responsible for law student representative activity.
§ 234.2Pro bonorepresentation directory.
(a) Publicly available directory. The Board shall make a directory available on its website of law school clinics and of pro bono legal services organizations with a connection to a law school that have advised the Board that they are available, on a pro bono basis, to provide law student representation to clients in proceedings before the Board, and wish to be listed in the directory. Listing in the directory is not a requirement for eligible law school clinics or a pro bono legal services organizations to represent clients in Board proceedings.
(b) Form for inclusion. To be included in the public directory, the director of the law school clinic or pro bono legal services organization shall submit a form providing the following information for public dissemination:
(1) The name of the participating clinic or organization;
(2) The name of the law school where the clinic is based, or with which the organization is connected;
(3) The name of the director of the clinic or organization;
(4) A general contact email address and phone number;
(5) The geographic area from which the clinic or organization may accept clients;
(6) Whether the clinic or organization has handled copyright matters in the past two years;
(7) The nature of any copyright matters handled by the clinic or organization in the past two years;
(8) Whether the clinic or organization has experience in handling litigation matters;
(9) If the clinic or organization does not have litigation experience, whether it has a partnership with a litigation clinic or experience supervising law students in litigation matters;
(10) A brief statement describing the clinic or organization's interest in handling matters before the Board; and
(11) A certification that student representatives participating in Board proceedings in affiliation with the clinic or organization will meet all requirements of § 234.1(a).
(c) Standards for inclusion. Subject to paragraph (d) of this section, the Board will accept for inclusion in the public directory any law school clinic or pro bono legal services organization with a connection to a law school that certifies that its law student representatives will meet all requirements of § 234.1(a) and provides sufficient information pursuant to paragraph (b) of this section for participants in Board proceedings to evaluate whether representation is available and appropriate.
(d) Removal from directory. The Board may, in its discretion, remove a clinic or pro bono legal services organization from the directory if it determines that the clinic or organization is not suitable for representing clients before the Board, including, without limitation, if it determines that the clinic or organization has failed to properly update its information in the public directory.
(e) Duty to update directory. Participating clinics and pro bono legal services organizations, which have been listed in the directory, have a duty to maintain current information in the directory and shall confirm the currency of the information on an annual basis.