Technology Law and Policy Clinic

Introduction

Technological advances are driving greater social, economic, and political change—from access to information, health care, and entertainment to increased surveillance by law enforcement agencies to impacts on the environment, education, and commerce. These advances, however, raise increasingly critical and complex questions about privacy, consumer rights, free speech, and intellectual property.

The Technology Law and Policy Clinic is a semester-long, 6-credit course that focuses on the representation of individuals, nonprofits, and consumer groups who are engaged with these questions from a public interest point of view. It involves a mixture of fieldwork and seminar discussion ranging from technology law and policy to the ethical challenges of representing public interest organizations.

Course Description

Fieldwork

Approximately one-half of the students in the clinic will work with the teachers 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; 
• Supporting legal efforts to allow for independent journalism techniques and research that investigates and holds accountable online platforms.

The other half will represent individuals, nonprofits, and other public interest clients on matters primarily focused on intellectual property. Representative matters include:

• Advising the Open Source Hardware Association on various copyright, patent, and trademark matters;
• Counseling the New York Public Library on the legal rules and risks associated with open source software production;
• Counseling artists, authors, and documentary filmmakers on fair use; and
• Filing amicus briefs in key copyright, patent, trademark, and other intellectual property cases, such as:
• Google v. Oracle (U.S. Supreme Court)
• American Society for Testing & Materials v. Public.Resource.Org (D.C. Circuit)

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.

Learning Outcomes

Students will be able to demonstrate a wide range of knowledge, skills, and competences upon successful completion of the course. They will understand and engage in the fundamentals of basic lawyering skills, which may include problem solving, interviewing, fact investigation, counseling, advocacy, legal research and writing, and the use of technology in legal practice. They will participate in sustained collaboration with professional colleagues. They will also learn about and practice cross-cultural competence and their ability to recognize and address bias and racism in legal systems, particularly at the intersection of law, policy, and new and emerging technologies.

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 two additional questions 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.

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.