Marcus Goffe, Jamaica

LLM Intellectual Property Law

"I am a Jamaican Attorney-at-Law. I obtained my Bachelor of Laws (LLB) degree at the University of the West Indies. Subsequently I worked for seven years at the Jamaican Civil and Criminal Bar and as In-house Counsel to a multimedia company in Jamaica.

I decided to pursue my Masters of Laws (LLM) degree in Intellectual Property Law at Queen Mary, University of London, because I was looking for a focused intellectual property law programme which would expose me to international intellectual property law. This I found in the Queen Mary Intellectual Property Research Institute (QMIPRI), with its specialized lecturers and tutors from various academic and national backgrounds and its high reputation for scholarly research in that area.

Studying at QMIPRI proved for me the right choice, as the new Postgraduate Facility at Lincoln's Inn Fields put me in the heart of legal London, providing the small, focused, postgraduate environment that is crucial to academic excellence. The lecturers are all approachable and knowledgeable in comparative and international intellectual property law and my particular interest in indigenous and traditional people's cultural rights was aptly satisfied by a brand new course, "Traditional Knowledge and Genetic Resources", the first of its kind to be offered in any LLM programme in London. I was therefore able to receive exemplary supervision of my dissertation on the subject.

In addition to scheduled classes, QMIPRI has fortnightly public seminars on various aspects of intellectual property law, allowing for the interaction and sharing of knowledge between students, academics and practitioners from wider London, the United Kingdom and the world. This all makes for a very healthy and stimulating educational experience which anyone really interested in studying intellectual property law in depth will profoundly appreciate. Having studied at QM, I now feel armed with the requisite research and analytical skills to take on the challenges of a grueling career in intellectual property law wherever."