Lawrence Lessig Appointed Professor of Law

Specialist in Law of Cyberspace, Constitutional Law, and Contracts

August 25, 1997

Dean Robert Clark announces the appointment of Lawrence Lessig [ http://www.law.harvard.edu/Academic_Affairs/Faculty_Directory/l.html ] as Professor of Law at Harvard Law School.

A specialist in the law of cyberspace, Constitutional law, and contracts, Lessig will teach Contracts and the Constitutional law seminar Fidelity and the Civil War Amendments during the 1997-98 academic year.

"Professor Lessig is an outstanding scholar in the burgeoning field of the law of cyberspace and he will play a major role in making Harvard Law School a leading center for the study of the policy implications of cyberlaw," said Dean Clark. "In addition, he will add important comparative dimensions to our work in the area of Constitutional law, further enhancing our teaching and research in this field."

Lessig comes to Harvard from the University of Chicago Law School, where he was Professor of Law since 1995 and Co-Director of the Center for the Study of Constitutionalism in Eastern Europe. He was a Visiting Professor at Harvard Law School during the 1996-97 winter term and was a Fellow at the Harvard University Program on Ethics and the Professions during the 1996-97 academic year.

Lessig received a J.D. from Yale Law School in 1989, a M.A. in Philosophy from Trinity College (Cambridge University) in 1986, and a B.A. in Economics and a B.S. in Management from the University of Pennsylvania in 1983.

Lessig's projects include a book on the law of cyberspace (viewing the law of cyberspace as a type of comparative constitutional law and exploring the significance of problems that the regulation of cyberspace might present), an empirical study of judicial efficiency and reputation in the federal courts, and the development of an electronic casebook builder in the area of contracts.

Among his recent publications are "The Erie-Effects of Volume 110: An Essay on Context in Interpretive Theory," 110 Harvard Law Review 1785 (1997); "Reading the Constitution in Cyberspace," 45 Emory Law Review 869 (1996) (which U.S. Supreme Court Justice O'Connor cited repeatedly in her concurrence in the Communication Decency Act decision, Reno v. ACLU); "Constitution and Code," 27 Cumberland Law Review 1 (1997); and "Making Sense of the Hague Tribunal," Eastern European Constitutional Review, Fall 1996. His papers include "The Law of the Horse: What Cyberlaw Might Teach," which was given in April at the Boston University Law School Faculty Workshop.

His public service activities include work with the Chicago Council of Lawyers and the Pro-Bono Advocates.