Lawrence Lessig

Lawrence Lessig (born June 3, 1961) is a professor of law at Stanford Law School and founder of its Center for Internet and Society.

Related Topics:
June 3 - 1961 - Stanford Law School - Center for Internet and Society

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Prior to joining Stanford he taught at the Harvard Law School, where he was a faculty director of the Berkman Center for Internet & Society, and the University of Chicago Law School. Although considered a liberal, he clerked for strongly conservative Judge Richard Posner and Justice Antonin Scalia. He was educated in business and economics under the Wharton undergraduate program at the University of Pennsylvania, before going on to attain a second undergraduate degree in philosophy from Trinity College, Cambridge, and then a J.D. from Yale Law School.

Related Topics:
Harvard Law School - Berkman Center for Internet & Society - University of Chicago Law School - Liberal - Conservative - Richard Posner - Antonin Scalia - Wharton - University of Pennsylvania - Trinity College, Cambridge - J.D. - Yale Law School

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Lessig has emphasized in interviews that his philosophy experience at Cambridge radically changed his values and career path. Prior to this, he held strong conservative political views, desired a career in business, was a highly active Young Republican, and almost pursued a Republican political career. A year abroad at Cambridge convinced him to undertake a second undergraduate degree in philosophy there, and he was converted to liberal political values. During this time, he also travelled in the Eastern Bloc, so acquiring a lifelong interest in Eastern European politics.

Related Topics:
Young Republican - Republican - Eastern Bloc

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In 2002, Lessig was awarded the FSF Award for the Advancement of Free Software from the Free Software Foundation (FSF), and on March 28 2004 he was elected to the FSF's Board of Directors http://www.fsf.org/about/leadership.html. Lessig is also a well-known critic of copyright term extensions.

Related Topics:
2002 - FSF Award for the Advancement of Free Software - Free Software Foundation - March 28 - 2004 - Copyright

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He proposed the concept of "Free Culture" http://randomfoo.net/oscon/2002/lessig/. He also supports free software and open spectrum http://cyberlaw.stanford.edu/spectrum/. He is founder and chairman of the Creative Commons and a board member of the Electronic Frontier Foundation.

Related Topics:
Free Culture - Free software - Open spectrum - Creative Commons - Electronic Frontier Foundation

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At his "Free culture" keynote at OSCON 2002, half of his speech was also about software patents, which he views as a rising threat to both open source and innovation.

Related Topics:
OSCON - Software patent - Open source

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Lessig is on the board of directors of Software Freedom Law Center, launched in February 2005.

Related Topics:
Software Freedom Law Center - February 2005

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Lessig appears as a character in a 2005 episode of the television political drama The West Wing ("The Wake Up Call"), played by Christopher Lloyd. Although portrayed by Lloyd, Lessig's character in the episode is intended to be the same as in real-life; the episode cited his 2002 book The Future of Ideas and his expertise in Eastern European constitutional law. The episode's screenwriter was Josh Singer, himself one of Lessig's former students, and his appearance in the show (where the character of Lessig assists the drafters of a Belarusian constitution), is loosely based on Lessig's involvement with work on the Georgian constitution. (Lessig's comments on his blog)

Related Topics:
2005 - The West Wing - Christopher Lloyd - The Future of Ideas - Josh Singer - Belarus - Georgia

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In May 2005, it was revealed that Lessig had been a victim of sexual abuse by adult staff members at the American Boychoir School which he had attended as a teenager. Lessig reached a settlement with the school in the past, under confidential terms. However, he has represented another student victim, John Hardwicke, in court, and written about it in his blog.

Related Topics:
May - 2005 - Sexual abuse - American Boychoir School

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