Jacob H. Rooksby is an academic, administrator, and attorney. Appointed Dean of Gonzaga Law School in 2018, Rooksby’s focus at Gonzaga has been on innovating the law school’s programming, facility, and operations and integrating the school...
University of Virginia, J.D., M.Ed., Ph.D.
College of William & Mary, A.B.
Advanced Torts
Business Innovation Clinic
Externship Seminar
Intellectual Property
Leadership for Lawyers
Jacob H. Rooksby is an academic, administrator, and attorney. Appointed Dean of Gonzaga Law School in 2018, Rooksby’s focus at Gonzaga has been on innovating the law school’s programming, facility, and operations and integrating the school further into the broader university and regional communities. A champion of diversity who established the first LGBTQ+ rights legal clinic at a Catholic law school in the country, Rooksby has worked to establish pay equity for faculty and provide equality of opportunity for students, faculty, and staff alike. He holds a joint appointment as a Professor of Law and Leadership Studies and has taught five different courses throughout his deanship.
Rooksby’s scholarship lies in two fields: IP law and higher education law. He published a book with Johns Hopkins University Press in 2016, The Branding of the American Mind: How Universities Capture, Manage, and Monetize Intellectual Property and Why It Matters. He also is co-author of the 6th edition of The Law of Higher Education, the leading treatise in the field. His edited book at the intersection of IP and higher education, Research Handbook on Intellectual Property and Technology Transfer, was published by Edward Elgar in 2020.
Rooksby enjoys a strong connection to the legal profession. He holds law licenses in Pennsylvania, Virginia, and Washington and formerly practiced with McGuireWoods LLP and Dentons Cohen & Grigsby P.C., the latter while a full-time academic. He currently serves as IP Optimization Strategist for FIG. 1 Patents, PLLC, a boutique IP law firm based in Spokane, and is an elected member of the American Law Institute, a Fellow of the American Bar Foundation, and a member of the bar of the Supreme Court of the United States.
Rooksby earned his A.B., summa cum laude, in Hispanic Studies and Government from the College of William & Mary, where he was inducted into Phi Beta Kappa and spent his senior year living amidst costumed interpreters in Colonial Williamsburg. He holds J.D., M.Ed., and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Virginia and completed post-graduate training in higher education leadership and management in 2019 at Harvard University. He is a graduate of the Ignatian Colleagues Program, a program run by the Association of Jesuit Colleges and Universities designed to educate and inform administrators and faculty more deeply in the Jesuit and Catholic tradition of higher education.
Rooksby is married to Kelly Drew Rooksby, an attorney who is a double Zag grad (’04 & Law ’07). Together they raise three young girls. An avid enthusiast of the outdoors who has summited the highest point of elevation in 44 states, Rooksby enjoys hiking, golfing, skiing, and camping with his family.
Research Handbook on Intellectual Property and Technology Transfer (Jacob H. Rooksby, ed., Edward Elgar Pub. 2020)
The Law of Higher Education, Student Edition, 6th ed. (Jossey-Bass 2020) (with William A. Kaplin, Barbara A. Lee, & Neal H. Hutchens)
The Law of Higher Education, 6th ed. (Jossey-Bass 2019) (with William A. Kaplin, Barbara A. Lee, & Neal H. Hutchens)
The Branding of the American Mind: How Universities Capture, Manage, and Monetize Intellectual Property and Why It Matters (Johns Hopkins University Press 2016)
"Policy Advocacy and Organizational Change at the Association of University Technology Managers” in Research Handbook on Intellectual Property and Technology Transfer 131 (Jacob H. Rooksby, ed., Edward Elgar Pub. 2020) (with Christopher S. Hayter)
“Protecting University Patents While Pursuing the Public Good,” inConcise Guide to Entrepreneurship, Technology and Innovation 144 (David B. Audretsch, Christopher S. Hayter & Albert N. Link, eds., Edward Elgar Pub. 2015).
“Learning to Litigate: University Patents in the Knowledge Economy,” in Academic Capitalism in the Age of Globalization 74 (Brendan Cantwell & Ilkka Kauppinen, eds., Johns Hopkins University Press 2014) (with Brian Pusser).
“University Patent Enforcement,” inThe Technology Transfer Law Handbook 157 (Elizabeth Rodriguez & Sean Solberg. eds., Edward Elgar Pub. 2014)
Realizing the Distinctive University: Vision and Values, Strategy and Culture, by Mark William Roche, Teachers College Record (2017) (book review).
“Academic Leadership Is a Full-Contact Sport: Reflections from a Law School Dean,” 62 Santa Clara Law Review 91 (2022).
“COVID-19 and Corporate Social Responsibility: Business Responses to the Pandemic in the Inland Northwest,” 82 Montana Law Review 143 (2021) (with Kathryn E. Handick).
“A Fresh Look at Copyright on Campus,” 81 Missouri Law Review 3 (2016).
“Trademark Trends and Brand Activity in Higher Education,” 40(1) The Review of Higher Education 33-61 (2016) (with Christopher S. Collins).
“A Legal Perspective on University Technology Transfer,” 41(2) The Journal of Technology Transfer 270-289 (2016) (with Christopher S. Hayter).
“Intellectual Property and the University: An Introduction,” 54 Duquesne Law Review 1 (2016).
“Copyright in Higher Education: A Review of Modern Scholarship,” 54 Duquesne Law Review 1 (2015).
“Defining Domain: Higher Education's Battles for Cyberspace,” 80(3) Brooklyn Law Review 857 (2015).
“UniversityTM: Trademark Rights Accretion in Higher Education,” 27 Harvard Journal of Law & Technology 349 (2014).
“Innovation and Litigation: Tensions Between Universities and Patents and How to Fix Them,” 15 Yale Journal of Law & Technology 312 (2013).
“Myriad Choices: University Patents Under the Sun,” 42(2) Journal of Law & Education 313 (2013).
“When Tigers Bare Teeth: A Qualitative Study of University Patent Enforcement,” 46 Akron Law Review 169 (2013).
“When Your Institution Sues for Patent Infringement,” Trusteeship, July/Aug. 2012 at 7.
“Sue U.,” Academe 2012 at 24.
“University Initiation of Patent Infringement Litigation,” 10(4) John Marshall Review of Intellectual Property Law 623 (2011).