Alumni profile - Jordan Hatcher

Jordan Hatcher, LLM in Innovation, Technology, and the Law

Tell us a little bit about your life/background before Edinburgh Law School

I’m originally from Texas, and came to Edinburgh for the LLM as part of an exchange programme with the University of Texas School of Law in my third year of law school. Law is a postgraduate degree in the US, and so my undergrad degree, where I studied Radio/TV/Film (media arts) and cultural anthropology. I delivered pizza during my undergrad, and worked in a personal injury law firm as a runner and a legal assistant in my gap year before law school.

What did you study at Edinburgh Law School and why did you choose the programme?

I knew early on from starting law school that I wanted to focus on areas of law related to technology, intellectual property, and media, and by my second year I had taken all the IP course I could at the University of Texas (UT). I chose Edinburgh for an exchange programme because of the depth of courses and specialised LLM in technology and IP law – it enabled me to spend an entire year focussed on my area of specialisation. Plus the beautiful location and great community were a huge bonus.

What do you think is unique to the Edinburgh Law School experience and what are some of your favourite memories?

I’ve made life long friends with lecturers and professors at Edinburgh law school, and many of the people in my year went on to become academics and specialists across the UK. Two areas stand out as unique for the experience, which are also some of my favourite memories:

1. The ability to attend talks and interact with amazing law academics from around the world at conferences and events is very unique. During my time there, I met many of the leading academics globally on intellectual property due to them coming for various events in Edinburgh, and more locally, met many judges and practicing lawyers across all the UK in IP;
2. I had the good fortune to be able to write my thesis on a topic that I really loved (Anime and Copyright), and was able after graduation to have this published in SCRIPT-ed and to give talks at BILETA and at the first Gikii conference.

Also, when I was in Edinburgh was the year the Scottish Parliament building opened, so not only did I get to see the grand opening, but I have a friend that worked there at the time and was able to get an early sneak peek into the building!

What have you been up to since graduating/what are you doing after graduation (e.g., your professional or further academic pursuits since leaving Edinburgh Law School) and how have your degree studies with us helped you in this?

I loved it so much in Scotland and the UK that instead of returning to Texas, I stayed in the UK and my LLM from Edinburgh enabled me to stay in the UK and have a career there. Edinburgh gave me the connections and knowledge about the UK to work right away in intellectual property law on various projects, and eventually landed at ARM in Cambridge. From there I’ve had a series of in-house legal roles, and my latest venture is starting The Grid [external link], a data company, where I currently live, in Amsterdam.

What advice would you give current Edinburgh Law School students?

Be entrepreneurial with your career. That means having a clear idea of where you want to go and what you want to accomplish, and aligning that with yourself, and not what you believe others want from you. Goals can change over time of course, but you should always have a goal. If you don’t have that today, then your goal is to participate fully in all Edinburgh Law School has to offer to discover your interests and where you want to go.