Lessig Information

Lawrence Lessig is the Roy L. Furman Professor of Law and Leadership at Harvard Law School. Prior to rejoining the Harvard faculty, Lessig was a professor at Stanford Law School, where he founded the schools Center for Internet and Society, and at the University of Chicago. He clerked for Judge Richard Posner on the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals and Justice Antonin Scalia on the United States Supreme Court. Lessig serves on the Board of the AXA Research Fund, and on the advisory boards of Creative Commons and the Sunlight Foundation. He is a Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the American Philosophical Association, and has received numerous awards, including the Free Software Foundations Freedom Award, Fastcase 50 Award and being named one of Scientific Americans Top 50 Visionaries. Lessig holds a BA in economics and a BS in management from the University of Pennsylvania, an MA in philosophy from Cambridge, and a JD from Yale. The simple version is just this: I do not shill for anyone. The more precise version is this: I never promote as policy a position that I have been paid to advise about, consult upon, or write about. If payment is made to an institution in a way that might fairly and reasonably be said to benefit me indirectly, then I will either follow the same rule, or disclose the payment. The precise version need to be precisely specified, but much can be understood from its motivation: Corruption in my view is the subtle pressure to take views or positions because of the financial reward they will bring you. Subtle in the sense that ones often not even aware of the influence. (This is true, I think, of most politicians.) The rule is thus designed to avoid even that subtle force. I never promote as policy a position: This is meant to distinguish work as a lawyer from work as an advocate. I dont typically do legal work for money. But everyone should understand that when a lawyer speaks for his client, he speaks for his client. The corruption I am targeting is a lawyer or academic ...