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Jay Campbell Miller discovered he had an affinity for the law while an undergraduate student at Indiana University on the Bloomington campus. A political science major, he enjoyed the research and writing aspects of the law-related classes. That led to working as a legal intern at Vera Bradley in Fort Wayne, Indiana, during the summer after his junior year of undergrad.

“Overall, I liked the intellectually challenging aspects of the law and knew I could see myself in this field,” Miller said.

During his first summer working as a legal intern, Miller worked with Vera Bradley’s intellectual property enforcement efforts against counterfeiting, working extensively with their brand protection and counterfeit litigation. He worked on gathering and organizing the brand’s discovery for ongoing counterfeit litigation and submitted notice and takedown requests, among other duties.

Miller returned to Vera Bradley during summer 2021, again working as a legal intern. He continued working on the same case that began when Miller worked there in 2019, seeing it through to settlement. He also helped organize trademark portfolios for the brand and its subsidiary, Pura Vida, looking for potential countries where the company would need to register trademarks.

Miller’s extracurricular IP experiences didn’t end there. IU McKinney Professor Lea Bishop recommended him for a job with U.S. Investor, a 501(c)(4) whose mission is to strengthen and restore patent rights for investors and small businesses. So far, he’s been working on an ongoing lawsuit in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5^th Circuit against the United States Patent and Trademark Office. He’s already got plans for summer 2022: Miller will work as a summer associate at SRIP Law, a small IP firm based in Boca Raton, Florida.

A native of Indianapolis, Miller said IU McKinney was on his radar for law school. “I knew many successful alumni and current students who had nothing but good things to say about the school,” he said. Beginning law school during a global health crisis has not been a breeze, but Miller said he’s been able to make connections and meet and get to know a diverse group of classmates.

The caliber of the faculty at IU McKinney and professors’ willingness to engage with students in the face of the ongoing pandemic challenges also has impressed Miller, he said. “In my previous experiences, really great professors who are engaging and make class enjoyable to go to every day are few and far between,” he said. “At IU McKinney I haven’t had a single class I wasn’t excited to attend.”