May was the Month of Jorda

Professor Karl Jorda with keynote speaker Chief Judge Paul Michel at the Jorda Gala May 1st.

May was the month of Karl F. Jorda in the Intellectual Property (IP) Law community.

As soon as Jorda, Pierce Law's internationally renowned David Rines Professor of Intellectual Property Law and Industrial Innovation and director of the Germeshausen Center announced his retirement from Franklin Pierce Law Center, the school and IP lawyers around the world began planning celebrations of his career and awards in recognition of his exemplary contributions to contemporary law and practice. Former students and colleagues attended events and sent warm wishes from across the globe.

The month kicked off with a Gala held here in Concord and attended by luminaries from many states, Europe, South America and Asia, including keynote speaker Chief Judge Paul Michel of the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, the chief patent judge of the United States. Unfortunately, Central American representatives slated to attend had to cancel at the last minute due to H1N1 flu virus concerns.  

Doug Wood, chair of the Pierce Law Board of Trustees and partner at Reed Smith in New York City introduced Jorda to guests as a "beacon for the school...why we are who we are in Intellectual Property."

Keynote speaker Chief Judge Michel related that Jorda was the personification of Pierce Law for all judges on the Court.  He noted that it was "significant," that the man who was stateless twice in his life was the man who, in his 50 years of practice, took IP all over the world.

Karl F. Jorda, born in Czechoslovakia, was expelled from his homeland after World War II. Through a series of events that he says he just "fell into," he became a patent attorney after attending school in Germany and the United States, studying five languages and earning degrees in chemistry and law. After a very successful career of more than 30 years at leading pharmaceutical companies, including Miles Laboratories, Ciba-Geigy and Novartis, he and his wife were determining their retirement plans when he received a phone call from Pierce Law.

Prof. Jorda's transition from corporate director and  chief intellectual property counsel to Pierce Law's IP standard bearer is recounted in a recent issue of the school's alumni magazine:

He received a phone call out of the blue from Homer Blair, Pierce Law's first David Rines Professor of Intellectual Property Law and Industrial Innovation and the Germeshausen Center's first director.  Jorda knew him from professional meetings.  Blair was retiring, and he asked Jorda if he was interested in succeeding him.  "At first, I felt that I was not a professor, and    teaching was not for me," Jorda says.  "I was very skeptical, coming from Europe, where becoming a professor was so difficult that I could never have contemplated becoming one.  But this was another opportunity that just came along, and perhaps I wasn't qualified for it in my mind, but I felt I should give it a good try."

The "good try" has become legendary, winning him accolades from former students now practicing and leading IP around the world.  Pierce Law's Associate Dean Susan M. Richey says of Jorda's teaching, "Karl goes out of his way to teach, mentor and nurture the talent with whom he works.  He is humble with regard to his own accomplishments and generous in his praise of the accomplishments of others." His skill in teaching garnered him the first-ever Intellectual Property Law Educator Award on May 20 from the New York Intellectual Property Law Association, the largest IP law association in the nation.  It was presented to him at a special ceremony in New York City.

Jorda was also awarded an Honorary Degree at Pierce Law's commencement ceremony on May 16.  The honor left him "speechless," he commented.

The celebrations of Jorda's career will not end with the month of May, however.  Franklin Pierce Law Center has announced a $500,000 fundraising campaign to create the Karl Jorda Professorship in Patent Law.  The professorship will be reserved for a scholar of national and international acclaim.  Before May ended, the 10% mark of the campaign had been surpassed.

When first offered the post of David Rines Professor at Pierce Law, Jorda and his wife Alice were contemplating a quiet retirement of gardening and family.  Although his official second retirement formally occurs this month, just after he finishes teaching at Pierce Law's Intellectual Property Summer Institute, people who know Jorda have doubts that quiet will have much sway in the new chapter the couple opens together.  Indeed, "retirement" does not seem to be included in the vocabulary of the five languages the professor speaks so well.