Intellectual Property – MLRI Research Groups

The Intellectual Property Group was established in 2000 and provides legal research and support to the Mississippi Universities for intellectual property matters. The laws protecting intellectual property include patent, copyright, trademark and trade secret. In addition to researching these areas, the IP Group provides educational sessions, seminars, and newsletters on a wide variety of IP related topics.


William T. Wilkins is the Senior Research Counsel heading up the Intellectual Property Group. Will has held this position since it was established in 2000. Prior to that, he was in private practice serving primarily small businesses with a variety of legal needs including intellectual property. Will received his law degree from the University of Mississippi in 1991 and a B.A. from the University of the South in 1988.


BurkeA. Meaghin Burke is Research Counsel in the Intellectual Property Group. She received a B.S. in pharmaceutical sciences from the University of Mississippi in 2000 and a J.D. from the University of Mississippi School of Law in 2006. During law school, Meaghin served as Mississippi Cases Editor for the Mississippi Law Journal and published a comment, “New Approaches to Pharmaceutical Patent Law: Why Current Patent Jurisprudence Is Inappropriate as Applied to the Unique Characteristics of Chemical Compounds.”