Georgetown Law

Madhavi Sunder, Frank Sherry Professor of Intellectual Property Law and Associate Dean for International and Graduate Programs, is a widely published scholar whose work centers on intellectual property law and extends into culture, human rights, and the First Amendment. Her book, “From Goods to a Good Life: Intellectual Property and Global Justice” (Yale University Press 2012) brings a humanist approach to intellectual property law. She has a deep interest in fairness and equity; her recent articles call for more equitable allocation of COVID-19 vaccines to low- and middle-income countries. Her work is wide-ranging, from art law to brands and biopiracy, from cultural appropriation to design thinking, the experience economy, and the intersection of religion and women’s rights.

Madhavi holds an A.B. from Harvard and J.D. from Stanford. She clerked for Judge Harry Pregerson on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit and was an associate at Cleary, Gottlieb, Steen & Hamilton in New York City. Before joining the Georgetown Law faculty, she was a professor at the University of California, Davis, and also taught at Yale Law School, the University of Chicago Law School, and Cornell Law School. She was named a Carnegie Scholar in 2006. In 2014, she was elected to the school board in Davis, California and served as president of the board. She serves on the DC Regional Council for the Smithsonian and as a member of the board of the Women’s Learning Partnership (WLP), a partnership of 20 autonomous women’s rights organizations in the Global South that promote women’s leadership and human rights.