Noah Niksefat is a first-year student at Loyola Law School who aims to apply his business background toward a purposeful legal career.
This semester, I chose Innovation Law with Professor Atik as my 1L elective. At first, I was drawn in by the word “innovation.” As we opened the course with the system of patent law, I started to see something deeper.
Patent doctrine is not just technical. It shapes market leverage. It can determine who controls a technology, who must negotiate for access, and how competition unfolds.
That shift mattered to me.
Coming from a business background, I have always thought about products in terms of risk, investment, and scalability. The legal structures governing innovation compel you to ask different questions: What is worth protecting? When does exclusivity encourage growth, and when does it stifle competition?
In class, the cases are not abstract disputes. They involve companies making strategic decisions about research investment, licensing, pricing, and litigation. This intersection between legal structure and business is where I feel most engaged.
When selecting my first-year elective, I prioritized genuine interest over what I thought I “should” take. Loyola gives 1Ls a special opportunity to explore beyond the core curriculum, and I wanted something that connected doctrine to industries I care about. Innovation Law offers that, while pushing me to think critically about how legal rules shape technological progress.
LLS electives are more than just an academic requirement. In a curriculum that is otherwise largely prescribed, Loyola’s elective courses offer a genuine perspective of the law’s impact in different sectors and communities.
TOPICS: 1L, Electives, Technology