I have never sat on an admissions committee for Harvard or Princeton, but I now have much more empathy for their difficult task. How do you make the cut among so many qualified applicants? We began soliciting nominations for our Top IP People Under 45 feature last winter--230 impressive individuals were proposed, some multiple times. To anyone who didn't make our 50-person list, here are some of the reasons.

Like any Ivy League admissions committee, we were looking for a certain amount of diversity. That meant we wanted to include representatives from the many facets of IP: trademark, copyright, patent, and trade secrets, and different kinds of practices, such as litigation, transaction, and policy work. Likewise, we wanted to include a wide range of geography and top-notch law firms, and for the most part included only one person from each firm. And we limited the attorneys to those who practice U.S. law.

But enough of who is not on the list: Those who made it offer a unique and dynamic portrait of today's IP world. They combine raw brain power with hard work, canny legal skills, and a talent for being in the right place at the right time. Perhaps my favorite tale in the collection is the one told by writer Susan Hansen of the meeting a few years ago at Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr, where former U.S. Army captain and biology Ph.D. Jane Love was up for partner. According to managing partner William Lee, as the assembled partners listened to Love's accomplishments, one of the other partners leaned forward and asked, "Are they telling me all this to try to make me feel bad about myself?" In response, I say, no, we aren't trying to make you feel bad, but rather proud of the IP community that can nurture such talent.

I am looking forward to attending the Federal Circuit's judicial conference in Washington, D.C., for the first time, in mid-May. More than one of our Top IP folks will be there, of course. Andrew Cadel, chief IP counsel at JPMorgan Chase & Co., is on a morning panel, and Edward Reines of Weil, Gotshal is president of the Federal Circuit Bar Association. One of my hopes for the day: that, down the street, Congress will have decided whether or not (and how) it will act on patent reform in 2008. Is that too much to ask? Maybe some of the great minds on our list have an answer. Pamela Sherrid
Editor