The coming 2014 will celebrate its 20th anniversary of the establishment of cooperation between SIPO and the John Marshall Law School (JMLS), a Chicago law school which has played a noticeable role in promoting study and understanding of Chinese intellectual property law by educating Chinese students. For the past two decades, numerous of people have devoted themselves to IPR cooperation between the two sides, Dorothy Li is one of them. She once served as the former associate dean of JMLS and is now acting as the senior consultant of JMLS's Chinese IPR recourse center and the co-director of the Asian Alliances Program at the JMLS. She has been building partnerships between members of SIPO and JMLS since 1994. Giving the credit to her diligent efforts, more than 400 Chinese students have studied and graduated from JMLS, most of whom have been engaged in IPR field across China. In 2007, she received the "Friendship Award", one of the highest honors given by Chinese government to foreign　experts, for her initiatives have led to greater development in China's IPR field.

As a native of Shanghai, Dorothy Li was brought up in Taiwan, China. She then immigrated to the United States. From the 1990s, she taught and lectured at colleges and universities in the United States and China, devoted herself to Sino-US education and cultural exchanges and particularly to IPR talents training.

"Education is the key to a powerful China. If China wants to be heard to speak in the world, greater attention must be attached to IPR. I am so glad that the Chinese leaders have been aware of this and done abundant work. All the world is now aware of the continuous improvement in IPR protection here in China. I would like to devote myself into cultivating IPR talents." said Dorothy Li.
　　　　
As a pioneer in cultivating future legal professionals in America, JMLS started working with Chinese law schools and authorities in 1994. "In the 1990s, China is in desperate need of IPR talents, the Chinese government sent senior officials to the USA hunting for cooperation in training the IPR talents. In 1994, JMLS enrolled the first three Chinese students sent by the Chinese government, and exempted the tuition fee for them." Dorothy Li told the China IP News.
　　　　
According to Li, the ultimate goal of education is not only deriving knowledge from books, but teaching students how to be a right person. "When the three students started their first class at JMLS, they were told that they were not only students, but also role models they must serve as representing their nation and the nation's IPR talents." said Dorothy Li.
　　　　
"It is my great honor to have witnessed and participated in the cooperation between SIPO and JMLS in the past 18 years. I am so glad that the Chinese students at JMLS have won their mentors and fellow students' respects for their hard work and moral characters. When they finished their studies and returned to China, they have played important roles in advancing China's IPR development as government officials, attorneys, school mentors and company administrators etc." said Dorothy Li. She told the China IP News that she would never stop in promoting cultural and educational cooperation between the two sides, and she would continue to cultivate IPR professionals in China.

(Source: China IP News)