Lisa A. Dolak is the Angela S. Cooney Professor of Law and the Associate Director of the Center on Property, Citizenship, and Social Entrepreneurism at Syracuse University College of Law.  Professor Dolak teaches courses on patent law, Internet law, and practice and procedure in the federal courts.

Professor Dolak's research interests include issues at the intersections of patent law and judicial procedure, patent law and the media, and patent law and legal ethics.  Her current research projects focus on media coverage of the U.S. patent system, the effects of the evolving inequitable conduct doctrine on the practice of patent law, and a reconsidered theory of subject matter conflicts.

During a sabbatical leave from Syracuse University, she served as a law clerk to the Hon. Paul F. Michel, now Chief Judge, United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit.  She has served since January 2005 as a member of the Federal Circuit's Advisory Council.  She chaired the SU Law faculty reading groups convened at the request of the American Bar Association Standing Committee on the Federal Judiciary to review the writings of then-Supreme Court nominees Samuel Alito and Sonia Sotomayor.  Professor Dolak is also a regular panelist on "The Ivory Tower Half Hour," a local public affairs discussion program airing weekly on WCNY-TV.

Professor Dolak received her Bachelor of Science in chemistry from Duquesne University and her Juris Doctor, summa cum laude, from Syracuse University College of Law.  She is admitted to practice in New York and before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

Roy S. Gutterman returned to Newhouse in the spring of 2005 as a visiting professor of communications law. A graduate of the Newhouse School, Gutterman teaches courses in media and communications law and newswriting to undergraduate and graduate students.  He also directs the Carnegie Legal Reporting Program at Newhouse for undergraduate journalism majors and will be blogging about legal reporting on LawBeat.

After graduating from Newhouse, Gutterman worked as a reporter for the Cleveland Plain Dealer, covering local and state government, crime, legal issues, and general news.  Gutterman also graduated from Syracuse University College of Law where he served as editor in chief of the Syracuse Law Review.  After law school, he clerked for a New Jersey Superior Court Judge and practiced business and general litigation.

Gutterman has written and spoken on topics including media law, legal education, and writing issues.  His book, L Rev: the Law Review Experience in American Legal Education (Academica Press 2002) is in law school libraries around the world.  While at Syracuse, Gutterman also worked for The Boston Globe, the Courier-News in Bridgewater, New Jersey, The Post Standard, and The Daily Orange.

His areas of expertise include the First Amendment, Media Law, and Communications Law.

Shannon Johanni is in her second year at the College of Law.  She is a member of Syracuse Law Review and the Syracuse Public Interest Network.  She is also a recipient of the Chancellor's Scholarship for the College of Law.  Shannon earned a master's degree in Public Administration from the University of Colorado at Denver and was a member of the public affairs honor society, Pi Alpha Alpha.  For her thesis, she executed, wrote, presented, and defended a performance evaluation for the Board of Directors of the American Civil Liberties Union of Colorado.  Shannon received a bachelor's degree in Sociology with a minor in Women's Studies from the University of Colorado at Boulder and at the conclusion of her studies, she received the Jacob Van Ek award honoring outstanding academics and contributions to the Boulder and University communities.

Prior to coming to Syracuse, Shannon worked for several years in various aspects of victim services and domestic violence prevention.  Shannon supervised victim services for misdemeanor violent crime at a prosecutor's office, worked as a legal advocate in a domestic violence shelter, and conducted research on the relationship between the criminal justice system and domestic violence.

Heather McCoy provides administrative support to the Institute. She is the Administrative Assistant to the Associate Dean for Enrollment Management/Chief Financial Officer of the College of Law.  Heather joined the University in June 2008 after relocating to Syracuse from Kansas City, Missouri where she worked for a large Hospital as an IT Analyst for several years.  Before becoming an analyst she spent many years as an Executive Assistant for the Hospital’s IT upper management. 

She holds several technical certifications as well as a nationally recognized Help Desk certification.

Alvarez came to the University in 2004 after working for several years in higher education and the arts in Washington, D.C. She was a media relations officer in Georgetown University’s Office of Communications. There, she implemented and managed communications for Georgetown Public Policy Institute, Georgetown College, the Graduate School of Arts & Sciences and the School for Summer and Continuing Education. She also worked as a junior press agent for education and outreach in the press office of The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. 

Alvarez holds a bachelor's degree in public relations from Syracuse University's S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications.