St. John's News

St. John’s University School of Law has appointed two new faculty members as part of an initiative to grow its Intellectual Property program.

Katharina de la Durantaye joins the St. John's faculty as an Assistant Professor of Law, having previously served as a Visiting Assistant Professor at Boston University School of Law and as an Associate-in-Law at Columbia Law School.  Professor de la Durantaye’s scholarship focuses on copyright law, comparative law, and legal history.  Her book The Protection of Literary Authorship in Ancient Rome was named a “Legal Book of the Year” by the leading German law journal Neue Juristische Wochenschrift.  She has published articles on the history of intellectual property law in the Boston University International Law Journal and in Forum Historiae Iuris, one of the premier European journals of legal history.

Jeremy Sheff also joins the faculty as an Assistant Professor of Law.  He practiced for five years at Cravath, Swaine & Moore after graduating from Harvard Law School and clerking for Hon. C. P. Sifton of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York.  Professor Sheff’s research interests span Intellectual Property law, First Amendment law, and Communications/Internet law.  In particular, his research focuses on the use of law to channel the creation, dissemination, processing and use of information.

The addition of Professors de la Durantaye and Sheff comes as part of a broader effort to expand the Law School’s intellectual property offerings.  The Law School’s Intellectual Property curriculum is anchored by a new foundational course, Introduction to Intellectual Property, and includes expanded course offerings in each of the three main components of intellectual property law: copyright, trademarks, and patents. 

For more information on the Intellectual Property Program at St. John’s, please visit the St. John’s School of Law.  For media inquiries, please contact Elizabeth Reilly, Assistant Director of Media Relations at St. John’s University at (718) 990-5789 or by e-mail to reillye@stjohns.edu.