Law, Science, and Technology

Program of Study Faculty Leaders

Yochai Benkler

I. Glenn Cohen

William (Terry) Fisher

Jonathan Zittrain

Program of Study Student Fellows

Devin Cohen

Rachel Sachs

Heather Whitney

Program of Study Research Librarian

Meg Kribble

To view recordings of the 2012 Health Law and IP/Cyberlaw faculty advising lunches click here.

Students: Interested in having space to work on an entrepreneurial project this spring at the new Harvard I-Lab?  Click here for more information.

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. Basic courses in the field are Trademark which will be taught in Fall 2012 by Professor Terry Fisher; Copyright, which will be taught in Spring 2013 by Professor Terry Fisher; Intellectual Property Law taught by Visiting Professor Jeanne Fromer in Spring 2013; and Patent Law, which will be taught in Spring 2013 by Assistant Professor Roin. Students interested in litigation in this field should consider taking Copyright and Trademark Litigation: TRO to the Supreme Court taught by Ms. Cendali in Fall 2012 and Patent Litigation taught in Spring 2013 by Mr. Porcelli. Students interested in advanced courses in the field may choose to take Intellectual Property: Advanced, taught in Fall 2012 by Professor Fisher; Entertainment and Media Law taught by Mr. Brotman in Fall 2012; and Incentives in Intellectual Property taught by Professor Fromer in Spring 2013. 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, will be taught in Fall 2012 by Mr. Barnes, currently Harvard University's Chief Research Compliance Officer and Senior Associate Provost and a former partner at Ropes & Gray.  The course focuses on health care law and financing.

Students interested in more advanced work can choose from a variety of upper-level classes including Drug Product Liability Litigation taught by Mr. Grossi in the Fall 2012;  Food: A Health Law and Policy Seminar taught by Clinical Professor Greenwald and Ms. Emily Broad Leib in Fall 2012; Food and Drug Law taught by Mr. Hutt in Winter 2013; Law and Policy of Federal Funding Flows taught in Spring 2013 by Mr. Barnes; and Psychiatry and the Law taught in Fall 2012 by Professor Stone. The year-long Health Law and Policy Workshop represents an ideal capstone experience for students interested in the field, as it features presentations of major scholars' works-in-progress in health law and policy, bioethics, and biotechnology. The year-long Health Law and Policy Workshop taught by Assistant Professor Cohen and Professor Elhauge represents an ideal capstone experience for students interested in the field, as it features presentations of major scholars' works-in-progress in health law and policy, bioethics, and biotechnology. The Politics of Health: A Center for Health Law and Policy Innovation Seminar taught by Clinical Professor Greenwald in Fall 2012 and again in Spring 2013 and its associated clinical offerings (focusing on policy rather than direct legal services), allow students to transfer the skills and ideas they learn from the classroom to the real world. Assistant Professor Roin’s Patent Law course is also recommended for students seeking to specialize in biotechnology and pharmaceutical innovation.

Students interested in Health Law are also 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, which provides law students and graduate students elsewhere in the university intensive mentoring and funding to produce works of scholarship.  Finally, students interested in health law should consider the joint JD/MPH program with the Harvard School of Public Health.

Internet Law

The last cluster consists of courses examining different aspects of Internet Law. The course offerings in this area include Communications and Internet Law and Policy taught by Professor Benkler in Fall 2012; Online Law and Business in a Globalized Economy taught by Mr. Gasser in Spring 2013; and  Practical Lawyering in Cyberspace taught by Clinical Professor Malone and Mr. Bavitz in Fall 2012, which is 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.