School is back in session: McDonald Hopkins attorneys demonstrate their commitment to education as adjunct professors and faculty

As a firm, McDonald Hopkins has a long history of supporting initiatives and community organizations dedicated to education. As individuals, our attorneys demonstrate that support by serving on boards, volunteering, and even getting right into the classroom themselves. With August marking the start of a new school year, we’re spotlighting some of the many McDonald Hopkins attorneys who have spent time in the classroom as adjunct professors or faculty.

This semester, McDonald Hopkins’ Ken Suh is teaching Artificial Intelligence: Law and Policy at the University of Illinois Chicago School of Law. The course was inspired by a former student who kept asking questions about AI during his IP litigation course. Ken then suggested to the school that someone should teach an AI-focused course and, many months later, that someone ended up being Ken! He’s also a faculty affiliate at the Institute of Government and Public Affairs, a think tank where he contributes to thought leadership around tech regulation. 

As an adjunct, Ken says he truly enjoys mentoring and guiding students through the real-world side of being a lawyer. He still keeps in touch with many former students, some of whom now work for clients. “Teaching has been invaluable not just personally, but professionally – being an advocate and teacher has helped to build genuine relationships.”

Jeffrey Haut, an associate attorney in our West Palm Beach office, will teach the Moot Court Honors class at Florida Atlantic University's Wilkes Honors College, an opportunity that grew out of two guest lectures he delivered there last year. Impressed by students’ feedback, the outgoing professor’s reference, and his law school moot court experience (including post-graduation experience as a competition judge at the University of Miami and Indiana University), FAU invited him to return as an adjunct professor. He jumped at the chance to give back to students.

Jeffrey joined McDonald Hopkins in October 2023, with a practice focused on appellate work and data breach class action litigation. Inspired by his father—a career federal agent, retired Deputy Inspector General in county government, and adjunct professor at Jeffrey’s alma mater—he has followed a similar path into law and teaching.

Jim Muraff from our Intellectual Property Department has spent over 20 years as adjunct faculty at the University of Illinois - Chicago School of Law, where he teaches a J.D. level class in the spring on substantive U.S. patent law. He also teaches Chinese patent examiners and re-examiners, as well as groups of Chinese IP attorneys, U.S. patent law topics within a program he helped create through the University of Illinois and has taught other Intellectual Property Law classes at the J.D. and L.L.M. level as well.

Though he took a sabbatical from teaching this year, his favorite part remains sharing practical insights — “there is the law, and then there is the lore.” Each semester, he tries to bring fresh, relevant experiences to class, and the energy and curiosity of his students continually reinvigorate him, even after more than 30 years in IP practice.

Before becoming an attorney, Jeff Deiuliis, an Associate of the Intellectual Property Department, was a professor of medicine at two medical schools: University of Maryland in Baltimore and Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland. There he taught biotech-methods to undergraduates/graduate students in the laboratory and biochemistry in human disease to medical students in the classroom. Working as a scientist for many years inspired Jeff to pursue intellectual property law. That work experience highlighted the importance of monetizing and protecting one's hard-earned intellectual property; hoping that as an attorney, he can assist in educating academics to potential intellectual property rights and subsequent business opportunities. 

“Daily life can make one forget what a privilege it is to be in a learning environment. Being around students can, for the most part, be a reminder of the gift of learning and the importance of the education system. With the rise of AI, students remind me that not everything can be taught via a screen, and many aspects of scientific endeavors cannot be simulated or learned by observation alone,” said Jeff.

We are proud of the way our destination firm actively pursues ways of giving back to the next generation and continually strives to better their communities through service and education.