Biography

Already at the top of the field of constitutional law before he began his intensive focus on the law of cyberspace, Lawrence Lessig has concentrated his scholarship on the problem of how law should govern the exchange of information and ideas in a digital age. He is a leading figure in the United States and internationally in cyberlaw, a field that lies at the previously unexplored intersection of constitutional law and intellectual property law. Professor Lessig is the founder and co-director of the law school’s Center for Internet and Society, chair of the Creative Commons project, and a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Before joining the Stanford Law School faculty in 2000, he was a law professor at the University of Chicago Law School and at Harvard Law School. After completing his legal studies, Professor Lessig clerked for Justice Antonin Scalia, of the U.S. Supreme Court and Judge Richard Posner of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit.

Key Works

• Lawrence Lessig, Free Culture: How Big Media Uses Technology and the Law to Lock Down Culture and Control Creativity, New York: Penguin Press, 2004. 368 pages.
• Lawrence Lessig, The Future of Ideas: The Fate of the Commons in a Connected World, New York: Random House, 352 pages, 2001.
• Lawrence Lessig, Code, and Other Laws of Cyberspace, New York, NY: Basic Books, 1999.

In the News

• Tower Of Babel, Other Big Thoughts At Humanities Fest
  Chicago Tribune, July 09, 2008
• Stanford Professor Lawrence Lessig On Obama's Many Different Campaign Positions
  Townhall.com Radio, July 08, 2008
• Cassidy: Let's Take A Holiday From Net; Stanford Prof Serves As Example
  San Jose Mercury News, July 04, 2008
• If Obama Appoints a Tech Czar . . .
  The Washingtonian, July 01, 2008
• DNC Tack Could Level Playing Field For Internet Companies
  Washington Internet Daily, July 01, 2008

Courses & Programs

Courses

• Corruption of Democracy
• Intellectual Property: Fair Use in Film

Programs

• Center for Internet and Society, Founder and Faculty Co-Director
• Center for Law and the Biosciences, Professor of Law and John A. Wilson Distinguished Faculty Scholar
• Stanford Program in Law, Science & Technology, C. Wendell and Edith M. Carlsmith Professor of Law

Publications & Cases

Recent Publications View All

• Lawrence Lessig, Aspen Ideas Festival: Lawrence Lessig's Big Idea, organized by The Aspen Institute, at the Greenwald Pavillion, Aspen, CO, June 30, 2008.
• Lawrence Lessig, Little Orphan Artworks, New York Times, May, 20, 2008.
• Lawrence Lessig and Ben Scott, Public Must Fight to Maintain Net Neutrality, San Francisco Chronicle, April 17, 2008, pg. B7.
• Lawrence Lessig, The Code of Privacy, 151 Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society 283 (September 2007).
• Lawrence Lessig, Credit Where Credit's Due, Harper's Magazine, April 2007, pg. 4.
• Lawrence Lessig, Make Way for Copyright Chaos, New York Times, March 18, 2007, section 4, pg. 12.
• Lawrence Lessig, Does Copyright Have Limits? Eldred v. Ashcroft and its Aftermath, in Open Content Licensing: Cultivating the Creative Commons, Brian Fitzgerald, ed., Sydney: Sydney University Press, 2007.
• Lawrence Lessig, Foreword, in Freedom of Expression: Resistance and Repression in the Age of Intellectual Property, Kembrew McLeod, Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2007.
• Lawrence Lessig, Foreword (Symposium: Cultural Environmentalism @ 10), 70 Law and Contemporary Problems 1 (Spring 2007).
• Lawrence Lessig, The Vision for the Creative Commons: What are We and Where are We Headed? Free Culture, in Open Content Licensing: Cultivating the Creative Commons, Brian Fitzgerald, ed., Sydney: Sydney University Press, 2007.

Affiliations & Honors

Professional Affiliations

• Board Member, Brave New Films Foundation
• Board Member, Electronic Frontiers Foundation
• Board Member, Free Press
• Board Member, Free Software Foundation
• Board Member, Public Knowledge
• Board Member, Public Library of Science
• Board Member, RedHat Center for Open Source, 2000-01
• Board Member, Software Freedom Law Center
• Commission Member, Penn National Commission on Society, Culture and Community, U. of Pennsylvania
• Chairman, Board od Directors, Creative Commons
• Columnist, Wired Magazine
• Member, Editorial Advisory Board, Lexis-Nexis Electronic Authors Press, 1995-97

Honors and Awards

• Elected Fellow, American Academy of Arts and Sciences
• Fellow, World Academy of Art and Science
• Honoree, National Law Journal's "100 Most Influential Lawyers," 2000, 2006
• Honoree, BusinessWeek's "25 Top eBiz Leaders," 2000
• Honoree, BusinessWeek's "25 Top eBiz Leaders," 2001
• Recipient, World Technology Award for Law, 2001