Lawyering for Innovation: The (Ongoing) Facebook Case Study

Issues of technology law and policy -- many involving Silicon Valley companies -- are among the most interesting and challenging in law today. Drawing on the lecturer's experience as General Counsel of Facebook, the course will focus on actual controversies that confront practicing lawyers as they grapple with these evolving issues in a fast-moving environment of innovation and disruption. In less than 15 years of existence (and less than seven years as a public company), Facebook has confronted an unending set of legal challenges, across the full range of subject matter, and in the process has helped define technology law in the 21st century. From questions of privacy law, to antitrust, to intellectual property law, to cutting-edge litigation, and most recently to election law and the political process, Facebook has been at the forefront of many of the defining legal developments of our era. In order to navigate these issues effectively, lawyers must combine legal expertise with practical business judgment as well as an understanding of the broader social and political context -- and in this course, students will develop those skills by studying Facebook legal controversies from the past and the present. Grading will be based on attendance, class participation, and a short final paper.