Overview

The Master of Laws (LLM) in Law, Science & Technology provides rigorous academic and professional training in legal practice and interdisciplinary analysis related to current developments in law, science and technology, including such areas as e-commerce, jurisdiction and dispute resolution in cyberspace, biotechnology and health science issues, intellectual property regimes and contractual developments related to the global information economy, venture capital, and high technology start-up companies.

The LLM in Law, Science & Technology is limited to students with a primary law degree earned outside the United States. Except under unusual circumstances, candidates must have at least two years of professional legal experience before commencing the LLM program.

LLM students are required to be in residence at Stanford during the full (nine month) academic year. They are required to take a minimum of 35 credit units and a maximum of 42 credit units.

Courses

The LLM academic program includes the following components:

1. An introductory course in American and common law (see below);
2. Participation in an LLM colloquium on current topics related to each specialization;
3. Appropriate courses selected from the regular Stanford Law School curriculum (and, to a limited extent, from other Stanford University Departments or Programs); and
4. A practical writing course.

To meet these requirements, each LLM student will develop an individualized course of study that will be reviewed and approved by the program director.

LLM students are required to be in residence at Stanford during the full (nine month) academic year. They are required to take a minimum of 35 credit units (and a maximum of 42 units).

Introduction to American Law

Stanford Law School offers international graduate students an intensive two week Introduction to American Law course in early September, before regular classes begin. This course is required for LLM students. It is optional for SPILS Fellows, but is recommended for students with no prior exposure to American law. The purpose of this course is to:

• Introduce internationally-trained graduate students to basic concepts of American law and provide an overview of U.S. legal process and institutions.
• Teach students how to read and analyze judicial opinions from U.S. courts.
• Prepare international students to participate in regular Stanford Law School courses.

Law, Science & Technology Colloquium

All Law, Science & Technology LLM students will participate in a weekly colloquium that will be directed by the teaching fellow for the Law, Science & Technology program. The colloquium will include an overview and discussion of selected issues in law, science, and technology, presentations of research and papers by faculty and visiting scholars, and outside guest speakers, often practicing lawyers. Students are also encouraged to attend other seminars and lectures on campus that are relevant to topics discussed during the required colloquium.

Law, Science, and Technology Courses Offered at Stanford Law School

Courses in law, science, and technology represent a strong and expanding component of the Law School's curriculum. The following is a list of the principal law, science, and technology courses that have been offered at the Law School during the last several years. Some courses are not offered every year, and additional courses may also be offered in a particular year.

Visit the courses section of the Law School's website for a comprehensive list of offerings.

General Technology

• Property and Contract Go High-Tech*
• Law, Science, and Technology Colloquium
• Technology as a Business Asset
• Venture Capital

Intellectual Property

• Antitrust
• Business of Intellectual Property
• Entertainment Law*
• Intellectual Property and Antitrust Law
• Intellectual Property: Trademarks and Unfair Competition Law
• Intellectual Property: Advanced Topics in Unfair Competition*
• Intellectual Property: Commercial Law*
• Intellectual Property: Copyright
• Intellectual Property: Advanced Topics in Copyright Law*
• Intellectual Property: Patents
• Intellectual Property: Advanced Topics in Patent Law*
• Intellectual Property Reform
• International Intellectual Property Law
• International Trade: WTO
• Introduction to Intellectual Property
• Patent Litigation Workshop*
• Scientific Evidence and Expert Testimony: Patent Litigation*

Information Sciences and Electronic Commerce

• Communications Law
• Copyright, the Internet, and Industry*
• Cyberlaw Clinic
• Cyberlaw: Difficult Problems*
• Internet Business Law and Policy*
• Internet Commerce: The Emerging Legal Framework
• Internet Torts and Crimes*
• Law and Virtual Worlds
• Law of Open Source

Life Sciences

• Biotechnology Law and Policy
• Current Topics in Bioethics*
• FDA's Regulation of Health Care
• Genetics and Law*
• Health Law and Policy
• Law and the Biosciences*

* Limited enrollment courses or seminars for which admission may be subject to a lottery or permission of the instructor.

Faculty

The Law School's faculty includes talented teachers and scholars of issues at the intersection of law, science, and technology.

Mark A. Lemley, William H. Neukom Professor of Law; Director of the LLM Program in Law, Science & Technology; and Director of the Program in Law, Science & Technology.
Principal subjects: antitrust; intellectual property; patent law.

G. Marcus Cole, Professor of Law, Helen L. Crocker Faculty Scholar, and Associate Dean for Curriculum.
Principal subjects: bankruptcy; contracts.

Anthony Falzone, Executive Director of the Fair Use Project.
Principal subject: cyberlaw.

Ronald J. Gilson, Charles J. Meyers Professor of Law and Business.
Principal subjects: corporate law; securities regulation; venture capital.

Paul Goldstein, Stella W. and Ira S. Lillick Professor of Law.
Principal subjects: copyright law; international and comparative law; intellectual property law.

Henry T. Greely, Deane F. and Kate Edelman Johnson Professor of Law and Director of the Stanford Center for Law and the Biosciences.
Principal subjects: health law and policy; biotechnology; law and the biosciences; the Food and Drug Administration.

Joseph A. Grundfest, W. A. Franke Professor of Law and Business.
Principal subjects: corporate law; securities regulation; mergers and acquisitions; venture capital.

Brian J. Love, Lecturer in Law and Teaching Fellow in Law, Science and Technolgy.
Principal subject: patent law.

Roberta J. Morris, Lecturer in Law.
Principal subjects: scientific evidence and expert testimony; patent law.

Barbara van Schewick, Associate Professor of Law and Faculty Director pf the Center for Internet and Society.
Principal subjects: communication law; cyberlaw.

F. Daniel Siciliano, Senior Lecturer in Law, Associate Dean for Executive Education and Special Programs, and Faculty Director of the Arthur and Toni Rembe Rock Center for Corporate Governance.
Principal subject: venture capital.

Roland Vogl, Executive Director of the Stanford Program in Law, Science & Technology and Lecturer in Law.
Principal subjects: intellectual property; commerce; international and comparative law.

Jonathan Zittrain, Visiting Professor from Harvard Law School.
Principal subject: cyberlaw.

Related Programs

Additional Law School Programs Related to Law, Science & Technology

The Stanford Program in Law, Science & Technology combines the resources of Stanford Law School — including renowned faculty experts, alumni practicing on the cutting edge of technology law, technologically savvy and enthusiastic students, and a location in the heart of Silicon Valley — to address many of the questions that arise from the increasingly prominent role that science and technology play in our global economy and culture. The program draws on expertise in and beyond the Stanford Law School community, with courses taught by visiting scholars, faculty from other University departments, attorneys, business executives, and scientists. The program offers a small, close-knit community for intellectually engaging study of science- and technology-driven law and policy, including a regular speaker series with prominent academics and practitioners in the field. Stanford law students are an integral part of the program, running four successful technology-oriented student organizations at Stanford: the Stanford Law and Technology Association, the Stanford Technology Law Review, the Stanford BioLaw and Health Policy Society, and the Stanford Journal of Law, Science and Policy.

Besides running its own programs on intellectual property law, the LST program includes six related programs and centers each with its own more specific focus: the Center for E-Commerce, the Center for Internet and Society (CIS), the Center for Law and the Biosciences, the Stanford Center for Computers and Law (CodeX), the Stanford IP Litigation Clearinghouse, and the Transatlantic Technology Law Forum.

The Center for E-Commerce provides a neutral forum for scholars, policy makers, and executives to explore the burgeoning field of electronic commerce law. In a unique interdisciplinary synergy with industry working groups, the Center for E-Commerce supports policy studies, develops guidelines and works towards the enhancement of industry practices.

The Center for Internet and Society (CIS) brings together scholars, academics, legislators, students, and scientists to study the interaction of new technologies and the law, and to examine how the synergy between the two can either promote or harm public rights such as free speech, privacy, public commons, diversity, and scientific inquiry. CIS also runs the Cyberlaw Clinic and the Fair Use Project, which provide students with the opportunity to participate in related litigation.

The Center for Law and the Biosciences, directed by Professor Hank Greely, examines how new discoveries in the biosciences will change society and how the law may affect those changes.

CodeX is a multidisciplinary laboratory operated by Stanford University in association with affiliated organizations from industry, government, and academia. The staff of the Center includes a core of full-time employees, together with faculty and students from Stanford and professionals from affiliated organizations.

The Stanford IP Litigation Clearinghouse addresses the critical need for a comprehensive, online resource for scholars, policymakers, industry, lawyers, and litigation support firms in the field of intellectual property litigation. The database will be the first comprehensive source for information about all IP lawsuits filed in federal court.

Funded by a generous grant from the Microsoft Corporation, the Transatlantic Technology Law Forum (TTLF) aims to promote a balanced approach to today's and future transatlantic tech law issues and to focus scholarly attention on these issues by involving academics, businesspeople, government officials, legal professionals, legislators, policy makers, representatives of international organisations, scholars, students and the public at large from both sides of the Atlantic. The Transatlantic Technology Law Forum's institutional framework is co-sponsored and operated by the Stanford Law School Program in Law, Science & Technology and the University of Vienna School of Law, which established TTLF jointly in a transatlantic academic partnership in 2004. The Transatlantic Technology Law Forum serves as a coordinating and working platform for a series of institutionally open transatlantic tech law projects. A number of American and European universities and other academic institutions as well as international organisations are actively involved in TTLF projects.

Additional Stanford University Programs Related to Law, Science, and Technology

Relevant to candidates for the Law, Science and Technology LLM are the Law School's teaching and research ties with the Schools of Business, Earth Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, and the Departments of Computer Science and Economics, as well as the following university-wide interdisciplinary programs:

• The Stanford Technology Ventures Program is the entrepreneurship center within the Stanford School of Engineering. It consists of a series of courses, conferences, internships, websites, and research activities designed to promote entrepreneurship education.
• The Center for Entrepreneurial Studies was founded in 1996 at the Stanford Graduate School of Business to build understanding of the issues faced by entrepreneurial companies and individuals.