Technology Law & Policy Clinic

Samuelson-Glushko Technology Law & Policy Clinic

Mission and Scope

As the  information age advances, policymakers play an important role affecting  technological innovation and competition policy. On issues ranging from  wireless unlicensed spectrum to net neutrality, thoughtful and impartial  analysis is difficult to obtain amid stakeholders vying for self-serving  outcomes. The combination of policy complexity and the scarcity of impartial  resources, however, create an excellent opportunity for a law school clinic to  make significant technology policy contributions.

The Samuelson-Glushko Technology Law & Policy Clinic  (TLPC) helps fill this gap. Through this graded semester-long course, student  practitioners provide assistance "in the public interest" on technology issues  to regulatory entities, courts, legislatures, and standard-setting bodies. The  Clinic has a two-fold mission:

  1. Train and produce students equipped to conduct thoughtful policy analysis.
  2. Provide unbiased assistance in the public interest concerning technology issues to regulatory entities, courts, legislatures, and standard setting bodies.

Student  practitioners have:

  • Completed  an in-depth analysis on Colorado broadband access and penetration, culminating in repsemester-longorts and presentations  provided to Colorado Governor Bill Ritter's Innovation Council on Broadband.
  • Provided  research and writing support for filings on behalf of a client concerning  low-power FM radio policy to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). 
  • Visited  Washington, DC, during spring break to discuss policy  matters at the FCC, meet with former FCC Chairman Dick Wiley, and engage in  policy discussions with legislative aides on Capitol Hill. 

Benefactors

The Clinic  is made possible by a generous donation from Robert Glushko and Pam Samuelson  of Berkeley, California. Bob Glushko enjoyed a successful  career as an inventor and entrepreneur and is now a professor at Berkeley's School   of Information. Pam  Samuelson, who is married to Glushko, is a leading scholar on information  policy and is jointly appointed at Berkeley's School of Information and Boalt Hall School of  Law. Glushko and Samuelson's donation enables Colorado Law to become the  third school to host a technology policy clinic in their name, joining American University  in Washington, DC, and UC-Berkeley's Boalt Hall.