Technology Law and Policy Clinic

Introduction

Technological advances are driving greater economic, political, and social change, raising increasingly complex and critical questions for civil liberties and civil rights. The Technology Law and Policy Clinic is a semester-long, 6-credit course that engages with many of these questions through the representation of individuals and nonprofit organizations. It involves a mixture of fieldwork and seminar discussion ranging from technology law and policy to the ethical challenges of lawyering in the public interest.

Course Description

Fieldwork

Students in the clinic will assist individuals, nonprofits, and other public-interest clients in addressing cutting-edge issues at the intersections of technology and free speech, privacy, surveillance, and transparency. Approximately one-half of the students will work with the supervisors of the clinic and the American Civil Liberties Union’s Speech, Privacy & Technology Project on issues or cases currently on the Project’s docket. Representative matters include:

• Filing public records requests and lawsuits to inform the public about government surveillance programs. For example, the ACLU has litigated Freedom of Information Act requests to force the disclosure of records regarding warrantless tracking of people’s cell phone location data, as well as regarding new methods and technologies for disrupting large-scale protests;
• Contributing to various criminal and civil cases, through direct representation or amicus support, that challenge government surveillance, mass data collection, and hacking;
• Contributing to various criminal and civil cases, through direct representation or amicus support, regarding the use of automated systems or artificial intelligence in ways that impact civil liberties or civil rights, including challenges to discriminatory technology use by government and private sector actors; 
• Submitting regulatory comments addressing law enforcement use of biometric technologies like facial recognition;
• Supporting legal efforts to allow for independent journalism techniques and research that investigates and holds accountable online platforms;
• Counseling a reproductive health organization on First Amendment protections for abortion-related features of a smartphone app.

A more extensive list of representative cases and projects can found on the clinic’s website.

The Engelberg Center on Innovation Law & Policy has also featured some of the clinic’s recent work.

Seminar

The seminar will include readings and discussions, student presentations of projects for discussion and problem-solving workshops, guest speakers on relevant topics, and other exercises designed to expose you to the practice of technology law in the public interest.

Qualifications for Applicants

Students in the clinic should have a passionate interest or curiosity about the impact of new technologies on law and public policy, as well as a desire to support and represent the public interest in these matters.

Application Procedure

Students should submit an application, resume and transcript on-line via CAMS. Applicants should submit as lengthy a response to Question 4 of the standard application as they feel necessary and may ignore the 300 word limit. Applicants to this clinic are asked to answer one additional question to complete their applications, available on the Forms page and in CAMS. There will be no interview. If you have questions about the clinic, you may direct them to Susan Hodges.

Students who enroll in the Technology Law and Policy Clinic may have the opportunity to join the Advanced Technology Law and Policy Clinic in the Spring '25 semester. There is no formal application process for the Advanced Clinic. Eligible students will be contacted about the application process prior to the Spring '25 enrollment period.

Student Contacts

The following students who took the clinic are available to discuss their experience:

* 6 credits include 3 clinical (fieldwork) credits and 3 academic seminar credits.