Based in Houston, Texas, The Honorable Nancy F. Atlas Intellectual Property American Inn of Court (Atlas IP Inn) provides the Sponsored Scholarship Grants program for judicial clerks (SSG-Clerks) to facilitate newly-authored scholarship on intellectual property or information law by Federal Appellate Court clerks or District Court clerks.
The SSG program for judicial clerks is administered for the Atlas IP Inn by the IPIL Institute at the University of Houston Law Center. As one of the nation's leading programs for the study of intellectual property and information law, IPIL is pleased to provide this administrative support for the creation and dissemination of quality scholarship in its field.
The SSG program for judicial clerks provides grants for intellectual property or information law scholarship from scholars serving or soon serving the Federal Appellate Courts or District Courts as judicial clerks under a two-year or shorter appointment. The program is made possible through the remarkably generous support of the Atlas IP Inn.
Grant amounts may change from year to year but are typically in the four‑figure range, with one grant selection anticipated approximately each year. All articles must be of publishable quality, relate to the specified subject matter, and total ideally within the range of 10,000 to 20,000 words, inclusive of footnotes; but with a required minimum length of 10,000 words inclusive of footnotes.
While the aim will be to pay the award upon submission of the final copy (so long as submission of the final copy occurs within three years of awardee notification), employment guidelines with a judge or a government agency may limit when the award can be paid to the selected scholar. Depending on the applicable rules, payment of the award to the selected scholar may need to be deferred until the clerkship has been completed. In any event, applicants should obtain permission from their respective judges before submitting an application and should include in their applications a statement that permission has been granted.
To apply for a grant, please submit the following:
All items should be provided electronically, as attachments in Adobe Acrobat PDF format, in a single submittal emailed to: ssgpclerkipil@uh.edu.
One proposal per submitter. Grants will not be awarded to prior recipients. Application materials will be treated in confidence. Article proposals may be made for works-in-progress, but such works should not be substantially complete nor submitted for or accepted for publication. Article proposals are limited to single-author works. Co-author or multi-author works will not be considered.
Application Deadlines for the 2025 IPIL SSG-Clerks Program for Judicial Clerks:
Applications will be accepted until March 14, 2025. Selections will be made in the summer of 2025 from the applications by considering all applications received up through the deadline.
Grant Amounts for the 2025 IPIL SSG-Clerks Program for Current or Incoming Judicial Clerks of Article III Federal Appellate Courts or District Courts:
$2,000 upon submittal of the final copy, after completion of the clerkship, and other applicable requirements.
These Sponsored Scholarship Grants programs are administered for The Honorable Nancy F. Atlas Intellectual Property American Inn of Court by the University of Houston Law Center's Institute for Intellectual Property and Information Law.