Law, Science, and Technology

Program of Study Faculty Leaders

Glenn Cohen

William (Terry) Fisher

Jonathan Zittrain

Program of Study Student Fellows

Heather Casteel

Program of Study Research Librarian

Meg Kribble

To view the recent faculty advising session on the Law, Science and Technology Program of Study, click here.

Overview

The school's offerings related to science and technology are grouped into three, loosely related clusters: Intellectual Property Law, Health Law, and Internet Law. A student might wish to concentrate on one of these three fields. Alternatively, she might build an intellectually coherent concentration by combining courses from two or three of the fields.

Intellectual Property Law

Intellectual Property is the body of law that governs rights to ideas and information. The three basic courses in that field are Copyright, which will be taught in the fall of 2009 by Professor Julie Cohen and in the spring of 2010 by Professor Fisher, Patent Law, which will be taught in the spring of 2010 by Assistant Professor Roin, and Trademark Law, which will be taught in the fall of 2009 by Professor Fisher. Students interested in advanced work in the field may choose to take Advanced Intellectual Property Law taught by Professor Fisher in the spring of 2010; the Seminar in the Foundations of Intellectual Property taught by Professor Cohen in the spring of 2010; or the Antitrust, Technology, and Innovation seminar taught by Clinical Professor Malone in the spring of 2010. Students interested in litigation in this field should consider taking Trademark and Copyright Litigation: TRO to the Supreme Court taught by Ms. Cendali in the fall of 2009. Legal practice in these fields increasingly requires knowledge of the laws of other countries and of the network of multilateral treaties that limit each country's discretion is framing its own laws. To obtain that knowledge, students are strongly encouraged to take courses in International and Comparative Law including Public International Law and International Trade.

Health Law, Biotechnology, and Bioethics

The second cluster consists of courses pertaining to Health Law, Biotechnology, and Bioethics. The basic course in the field, Health Law and Regulation, will be taught in the fall of 2009 by Professor Ruger. Students interested in more advanced work can choose from a variety of upper-level classes including the Health Law Policy Workshop taught by Professor Elhauge in the fall of 2009 and the spring of 2010; the Reproductive Technology and Genetics Seminar taught by Assistant Professor Cohen in the spring of 2010; Food and Drug Law taught by Mr. Hutt in the winter of 2010; and Psychiatry and the Law taught by Professor Stone in the winter of 2010. Students interested in Health Law are encouraged to attend the various lectures organized by the Petrie-Flom Center for Health Law Policy, Biotechnology, and Bioethics. Students with an academic interest in health law should also consider applying to be student fellows at the Petrie-Flom Center.  Finally, students interested in health law should consider the joint JD/MPH program with Harvard School of Public Health.

Internet Law

The last cluster consists of courses examining different aspects of Internet Law. The basic course in the field is Communications and Internet Law and Policy taught by Professor Benkler in the fall of 2009.

This basic course is supplemented by several more specialized and clinical offerings including Practical Lawyering in Cyberspace taught by Clinical Professor Malone in the fall of 2009; Cyberlaw: Difficult Problems taught by Professor Zittrain at Stanford Law School in the winter of 2010 (Stanford will cover the lodging and travel costs of Harvard students); the Cybercrime seminar taught by Clinical Professor Malone in the spring of 2010; the Cyberwarfare and Cybercrime Seminar taught by Professor Goldsmith in the fall of 2009; Online Law and Business in a Globalized Economy Seminar taught by Professor Gasser in the spring of 2010; and the Seminar in Pornography, Child Exploitation, and the Internet taught by Ms. Rosenfeld and Ms. Sacco in the spring of 2010. Several of these courses are tied to optional clinical placements at the Berkman Center for Internet and Society. The Berkman Center also affords a wide variety of opportunities to participate in research projects pertaining to Information Technology.

Regardless of whether a student concentrates in one of these areas of the law or develops a program by combining course work in the three fields, she should strongly consider wrapping up her sequence of courses with an extended research project of her own, typically issuing in an original work of scholarship. All of the faculty listed above are available to supervise such projects.

Academic Careers

Students who wish to pursue academic careers in this area should think about combining the course work discussed above with opportunities for significant research and writing.