Education
- B.A., University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 2002
- J.D., University of North Carolina School of Law, 2008
Research Interests
- Legal Ethics and Legal Profession
- Trademark Law
About
Professor Jon J. Lee is a recognized scholar in legal ethics and intellectual property law. Within the field of legal ethics, Professor Lee examines the extent to which lawyer codes and disciplinary procedures promote ethical practice and protect the public. His work in intellectual property law explores the outer limits of trademark protection and the lawyer’s role in trademark prosecution. Professor Lee recently received the Frederick C. Zacharias Memorial Prize for Scholarship in Professional Responsibility, which is awarded annually to an outstanding article in the field. He also was appointed by the National Conference of Bar Examiners to serve as its Distinguished Scholar in Residence, with a special focus on spearheading the development and implementation of the NextGen bar examination.
Professor Lee graduated first in his class from the University of North Carolina School of Law, where he was a member of the North Carolina Law Review and inducted into the Order of the Coif. He then clerked for The Honorable Roger L. Gregory of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit and was an officer in the North Carolina Army National Guard.
Prior to his arrival at the University of Oklahoma College of Law, Professor Lee was on the faculties of the University of Minnesota Law School and University of Maine School of Law. He began his teaching career at the UNC School of Law, where he also served as the Associate Dean for Administration and Assistant Dean for Academic Excellence.
Professor Lee has won multiple teaching awards, including the Stanley V. Kinyon Teacher of the Year Award from Minnesota Law and the Robert G. Byrd Award for Excellence and Creativity in Teaching from the UNC School of Law. His national service includes extensive work for the Law School Admissions Council, National Conference of Bar Examiners, and American Association of Law Schools. In 2023, Professor Lee was elected a Fellow of the American Bar Foundation.
Additional Information
J.D.:
- Evidence 5314
- Professional Responsibility 5323
- Property 5234
- Trademarks 6223
Reimagining Attorney Regulation, 65 Boston College L. Rev. 1625 (2024).
Sound Marks, 108 Minnesota L. Rev. 2339 (2024).
Racism and Trademark Abandonment, 91 George Washington L. Rev. 932 (2023).
Private Sanctions, Public Harm?, 48 BYU L. Rev. 1255 (2023).
Leadership Evolution: The Rise of Lawyers in the C-Suite (with G. Jenkins), 96 Tulane L. Rev. 695 (2022).
A Tale of Four Decades: Lessons From USPTO Trademark Prosecution Data (with D. Gerhardt), 112 Trademark Rep. 865 (2022).
Catching Unfitness, 34 Georgetown J. Legal Ethics 355 (2021).
Double Standards: An Empirical Study of Patent and Trademark Discipline, 61 Boston College L. Rev. 1613 (2020).
Owning Colors (with D. Gerhardt), 40 Cardozo L. Rev. 2483 (2019).
Safeguarding the Propriety of the Judiciary, 91 North Carolina L. Rev. 1951 (2013).
Do Trademark Lawyers Matter? (with D. Gerhardt), 16 Stanford Tech. L Rev. 583 (2013).
Sharpening the Blunt Blue Pencil: Renewing the Reasons for Covenants Not to Compete in North Carolina (with K. Burke), 90 North Carolina L. Rev. 1931 (2012).
The “True” Right to Trial by Jury: The Founders’ Formulation and Its Demise, 111 West Virginia L. Rev. 791 (2009).