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Advocate
for Internet privacy to head UC Berkeley law school's high-tech,
public policy law clinic
22
Jan 2001
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Deirdre
Mulligan. Benjamin Tice Smith photo
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Berkeley
- Deirdre Mulligan, an attorney and leading advocate for free
speech and individual privacy rights on the Internet, is the
new director of the Samuelson Law, Technology and Public Policy
Clinic at the University of California, Berkeley, School of
Law (Boalt Hall).
The law
clinic, which opens today (Monday, Jan. 22), will provide
a moral voice and public conscience for Silicon Valley and
for cyberspace in general.
Much of
Mulligan's background is in this area.
The daughter
of a social worker and a nurse, 34-year-old Mulligan grew
up with a strong belief in public service. While attending
Georgetown University Law Center, Mulligan worked at the American
Civil Liberties Union's Privacy and Technology project where
she honed her interest in preserving and enhancing civil liberties
and democratic values.
After law
school, she became a founding member of the Center for Democracy
and Technology, a high-tech, civil liberties public interest
organization based in Washington, D.C. For the last six years,
Mulligan has been staff counsel at the center.
She has
worked with federal lawmakers, governmental agencies, the
judicial system, public interest organizations, and the high-tech
business community, with the goal of enhancing individual
privacy on the Internet, thwarting threats to free speech
on the Internet, and limiting governmental access to private
data.
"This is
an incredible opportunity," Mulligan said of her selection
to work as clinic director. "Through the clinic, Boalt will
be one of the first law schools to offer students the experience
and skills necessary to serve the public interest in the dynamic
area of new technology."
Law school
faculty members selected Mulligan as clinic director following
a national search.
"Mulligan's
experience and insight into the Washington policy process
will be a great asset to the high tech clinic," said clinic
founder and Boalt Hall law professor Pamela Samuelson. "More
and more, young lawyers need to understand how to do legislative
lawyering as well as transactional and litigation work. She's
one of the top people in this field."
Samuelson,
an expert on cyberlaw and intellectual property and a former
MacArthur "genius" Award fellow, funded the clinic last spring.
She and her husband, Robert Glushko, an engineering fellow
at Commerce One (an electronic commerce services and software
provider), donated $2 million to endow the program.
In addition,
Mitchell Kapor, founder of Lotus Development Corp., donated
$300,000, and the New York-based Markle Foundation, headed
by Boalt Hall alumna Zoe Baird, donated $300,000.
Samuelson
clinic staff members will take on a number of public interest
matters. Law students will file friend-of-the-court briefs,
write model legislation, comment on proposed legislation and
provide legal assistance to individuals filing lawsuits against
corporations and governmental entities.
Mulligan
said she has always had an interest in teaching and is looking
forward to teaching Boalt Hall students more than substantive
law and traditional legal skills.
She wants
students to gain skills that are essential in the environment
of high-tech law - the ability to combine legal and technical
computer knowledge, build coalitions, and craft solutions
to public policy concerns.
"We know
that Deirdre Mulligan will build a fine clinical program that
will be a credit to its founders," said Jerry Berman, executive
director of the Center for Democracy and Technology (CDT).
"She has
the vision, expertise, and skills to lead students into the
world of Internet and digital media policy and contribute
to the development of Internet law and policy embodying democratic
values. We will miss her at CDT, but look forward to working
with the her and the Samuelson clinic on many projects."
Mulligan
lives in Berkeley with her husband, Benjamin Tice Smith, a
photo editor with the Time-Warner magazine eCompanyNow, and
her newborn daughter, Marlene.
The Samuelson
clinic is part of Boalt Hall's Center for Clinical Education.
The center also houses the International Human Rights Clinic
and, beginning in July, will open a Death Penalty Clinic in
which students will investigate and handle appeal cases for
California's death row inmates.
Boalt Hall
also is home of the Berkeley Center for Law & Technology,
established in 1995 to encourage the ethical development of
intellectual property law and related fields of law.
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