What is Data Privacy
Lawyering Seminar III?
Lawyering Seminar III builds on the Lawyering Seminar I and II courses that we took in our 1L year. We will have the opportunity to continue working on our legal writing and advocacy skills, and this time we'll get to focus on a topic that we've chosen ourselves!
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This class will 1) help us polish and explore our legal writing and analysis skills, 2) introduce an array of data privacy law and policy topics and issues, and 3) (hopefully) be a fun and interesting class that we'll all enjoy.
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Frequently Asked Questions
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I want to work in tech. Will we just be trashing tech all semester?
No! Technology is awesome! Life changing! Miraculous! We are big fans. But we can probably all agree that there are some great things about technology, and some things that are not so great about it. In this class, we are going to dream up ways to make tech work for us, and envision legal schemes that let us have the great parts of technology, but that limit/curb/prevent some of the problems we see in our current data reality. Together, we will study the current laws and think about how to make rules that will make awesome tech work in a way that is good for all of us.
What’s a Lawyering Seminar III "in context"?
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Because this class is a Lawyering Seminar, we are going to weave as many skills lessons as possible into our data privacy studies. We are going to work on two different types of legal writing: legislative drafting and scholarly writing, and we are going to plan and practice brief, effective oral presentations based on our research and writing.
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My main job is to facilitate a learning environment where everyone feels comfortable, where everyone feels like they are learning new things, and where everyone feels like they can succeed.
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What will I get out of this class?
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Knowledge, work product (2 pieces of writing), experience, and hopefully fun.
I'm Professor Lamdan
and I'm so glad we get to spend the semester together! Some of you had me last semester for Public Institutions, so you may know me a little already. (But this is a much smaller class, so we'll REALLY get to know each other this semester.)
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I've been teaching at CUNY since 2010. My background is in librarianship, hence my interest in all things information law. I work on issues that span the informational spectrum from personal data privacy to public information access. I recently wrote a book about companies that are both personal data brokers + critical public information platforms. When I'm not teaching, I work with open access organizations and civil liberties groups focused on data surveillance.
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In my free time I like to knit, jog (very slowly), hang out with dogs, and spend time with my kids. I also like talking about basketball, reality TV, and anything that has to do with Kansas (my home state).
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Class at a Glance
Here are some of the topics we will cover this semester - we will approach each of these issues from a legal perspective, considering potential law and policy solutions and pitfalls:
Data as Property
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Privacy in the Law
Data Privacy and the Private Sector
Data Privacy and the Government
Data & Systemic Biases
Legal Interventions