The Bill Cornish Memorial Fund
Professor Bill Cornish
The Bill Cornish Memorial Fund will offer financial support to students to research intellectual property law at the University of Cambridge, ideally by way of full and partial studentships.
By any standards, Professor Bill Cornish, C.M.G., Q.C. (hon.), F.B.A., was a remarkable scholar and teacher. Born in Adelaide, he came to Britain to study for the B.C.L. in Oxford in 1961 and ended up making not just his home here, but an indelible mark on the contents of the legal curriculum. His career was spent primarily at the London School of Economics (1962-1969, 1970-1990), where he was made a professor at the age of 33, and the University of Cambridge (1990-2004; emeritus 2004-2022). While at Cambridge, Bill was President of Magdalene College (1998-2001), Director of the Centre of European Legal Studies (1991-94) and headed the Centre for British Legal Studies at the University of Warsaw.
Although Professor Cornish’s expertise was broad, including both modern legal history and much civil law, he will primarily be remembered as the “father of intellectual property.” Bill was responsible for the first “intellectual property” course (covering the field of copyright, patents, trade marks and allied rights), run at the London School of Economics, and later (in 1981) produced the seminal textbook on the subject, leading to the appearance of “intellectual property” in the offerings of just about every law school. Called to the Bar in 1962, and later a Bencher of Gray’s Inn, Bill maintained close contacts with practitioners in the field and was a door tenant at 8 New Square (the Chambers of Thomas Blanco White, Robin Jacob and Hugh Laddie).
Bill Cornish was a much-loved Fellow and former President of Magdalene. As well as his University teaching, he is remembered with great affection for his supervisions. The College warmly supports the initiative to create a fund in his memory.
At his peak at a time when the current legislative frameworks were being established (the Patents Act 1977, the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 and the Trade Marks Act 1994), Bill maintained close contacts with policymakers and served as an advisor to various Parliamentary committees. Bill sought to develop the profile of intellectual property scholarship internationally, via links with the Max Planck Institute in Munich and through the Association for the Advancement in Teaching and Research of Intellectual Property. As a pioneer in the field, Bill’s thinking imprinted its influence on generations of students, scholars and practitioners. He was a brilliant teacher and colleague.
The Faculty of Law at the University of Cambridge is establishing a fund by which to remember Bill’s contribution. The Bill Cornish Memorial Fund will offer financial support to students to research intellectual property law at the University of Cambridge, ideally by way of full and partial studentships.
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