Directory

Julie E. Zink

Professor of Lawyering Skills; Coordinator of the Legal Profession Program

Full-Time Faculty

School of Law

Profile

Julie Zink, a 1999 graduate of the University of Dayton School of Law, joined the faculty in 2006 to teach Legal Profession courses, with a particular interest in intellectual property. She is currently the Coordinator of the Legal Profession Program and previously served as the Assistant Dean of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. Before that she was an adjunct professor at the School and an attorney at Faruki Ireland & Cox PLL in Dayton, specializing in intellectual property litigation. From January 2008 to January 2016, she worked part-time as counsel for Teradata Corporation, on patent matters.

Interested in law since middle school, Professor Zink was introduced to intellectual property law in 1994 while earning an associate’s degree in legal assisting from Sinclair Community College. She signed up for an IP course not knowing exactly what the subject meant – but she soon knew all about it. “I bought and read the book before the semester even started,” she says, “I fell in love with the subject matter, and decided that was the field for me.”

After earning her bachelor’s degree in political science from Wright State University, Professor Zink attended UDSL, where she was a Walter H. Rice Moot Court Competition champion. She then moved to Alexandria, Virginia, where she was a patent litigator at Oliff & Berridge PLC. She returned to Dayton after three years to be closer to her family.

Her transition to teaching full time was smooth, she says, thanks to the support from fellow faculty. It’s also a bit of a homecoming for this Dayton Law grad. “It’s great to come back to my law school, to contribute to the law and technology program and help it grow."

Professor Zink was named Barrister of the Month for September 2010 by the Dayton Bar Association. She stepped down as President of the Dayton Intellectual Property Law Association in June 2013 after a two-year term and then joined the Board of Directors for Aullwood Audubon in July 2013. In January 2014, Professor Zink was reappointed for a three-year term to the Ohio Supreme Court's Commission on Certification of Attorneys as Specialists. In November 2015, she was appointed to the American Intellectual Propery Law Association's Quarterly Journal Editorial Board for a three-year appointment.

In August 2019, Professor Zink was appointed to be the University of Dayton School of Law's inaugural Assistant Dean of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion. She stepped down from this position in December 2021.