A Unique Journey

“Nothing trains you for the courtroom like Chicago-Kent College of Law’s trial advocacy program,” says Sameeul Haque ’19. “I have repeatedly been able to go back to the lessons I learned through the program (both through courses and on the team) to conduct preliminary injunction hearings and argue motions in court.” 

Haque also credits the trial advocacy team for helping him become the litigator he is today.

“Being on the trial advocacy team was perhaps the single greatest thing I could have done in law school to prepare me as a litigator,” he says. “It impacts the way I look at documents produced in discovery, how I approach depositions, and how I argue motions. But I have felt the impact of my time on the team the most when preparing for preliminary injunction and evidentiary hearings, which regularly occur in my IP practice.”

Chicago-Kent’s trial advocacy and intellectual property law programs are what initially attracted Haque to the school. He was not disappointed.

“I think Kent does a phenomenal job of tailoring its courses to real-world circumstances—providing students with a strong, practical understanding of the law without sacrificing any of the necessary foundational knowledge,” he says. “This was especially true in their IP and trial advocacy courses—which were the vast majority of the elective courses I took. The professors and adjunct faculty were incredibly engaging and consistently demonstrated a deep understanding of the subject matter they taught.”

Haque is now running his own firm, Haque III Legal Practice LLC, with his two siblings, Razaul ’23 and Saman ’20. With Haque’s background in IP and commercial litigation, and his siblings in employment and corporate law, they look forward to providing businesses with legal services to suit all their needs.

“We chose to open our own firm to provide quality legal services to small and mid-size businesses at a much more reasonable rate—a full-service boutique business firm where the founders have big law experience, but offer boutique firm attention and values,” he says.

The road to being his own boss wasn’t always straightforward. A few months after graduating and landing a job as a commercial litigator for a mid-size firm, the COVID-19 pandemic struck, and he was laid off. However, he took it as an opportunity to better focus his career on IP law, the area where he really wanted to practice.

In early 2021 Haque joined the non-profit Corporate Accountability Lab, which focuses on finding legal remedies for holding corporations accountable for unethical supply chain practices which harm people and the environment.

“CAL was working with the Organization for Ethical Source, a group of accomplished open-source software developers who were seeking to limit the use of open-source projects by human rights abusers and their allies by developing ethical open-source licenses which prohibit bad actors from legally using the open-source software protected under the license,” says Haque.

Upon the completion of that project, Haque joined TME Law, P.C., a boutique IP firm focused on Schedule A cases, mass infringement litigation against online marketplaces, and sellers who infringe upon intellectual property rights. However, he quickly moved to Bishop, Diehl, & Lee, Ltd., where he was able to offer a full range of IP services. He also concluded a brief stint at Dickinson Wright, P.C. before banding together with his siblings to form H3LP, where he offers a full range of IP services (from IP registration and portfolio management to licensing and procurement) along with IP and commercial litigation.

Through his entire unconventional career journey, Haque was able to find success through the guidance he received at Chicago-Kent, in particular, from the Office of Career Development and Professionalism.

“My career adviser, Jayne Schreiber, improved everything about my employability, from the basics, such as resume construction and cover letter drafting to interview strategies, searching for positions, and networking,” he says. “I have had a fairly unique career trajectory, and I would not have had the confidence to navigate it without her guidance and support.”