Samuelson Clinic Celebrates 25 Years of Tech Law Innovation

Twenty five years ago, a classroom question started something remarkable. In a Berkeley cyberlaw class, Professor Pamela Samuelson asked her students what a public interest technology law clinic should do. The detailed proposals that came back didn’t just stay on paper. They became the blueprint for the nation’s first clinic of its kind. Now, a quarter century later, the Samuelson Law, Technology & Public Policy Clinic isn’t just a Berkeley Law staple. It’s a force that has reshaped digital rights, criminal justice, and intellectual property law. Its recent 25th anniversary wasn’t simply a celebration. It was a powerful reminder of how legal advocacy can meet the breakneck speed of technological change.

The clinic’s work operates on a simple but urgent principle. Technology law is not abstract. It directly shapes your rights, your privacy, and your freedom. The clinic’s victories prove this point. They fought for the public’s right to access the law itself, filing an amicus brief that led to a pivotal Supreme Court decision. The court ruled that official annotated state legal codes cannot be copyrighted. This means you can read and share the laws that govern you without facing a paywall. In another key win, the clinic represented the Authors Alliance. They secured and expanded critical exemptions in the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. These exemptions now allow researchers to perform vital text and data mining on copyrighted works. This kind of analysis fuels academic discovery and AI development. Without it, innovation happens behind a locked door.

Perhaps the clinic’s most urgent work now happens at the intersection of technology and criminal justice. Director Catherine Crump points out a hard truth. The criminal justice system is often where new technologies are deployed in their most coercive forms. The people in that system typically have the fewest legal protections. The clinic has trained over a thousand public defenders. They learn to navigate complex digital evidence, cell phone search warrants, and facial recognition systems. The clinic’s research has also exposed real harms. They revealed how electronic monitoring of young people in the system often functions as a punitive debt trap. This work fueled new transparency laws in cities like Oakland and San Francisco. These laws now regulate police surveillance tools. “Our students learn the importance of probing whether technology works as advertised,” Crump explains. “This is a question the system should never skip over when someone’s liberty is at stake.”

The clinic’s influence extends far beyond courtrooms. It builds leaders. Alumni now hold pivotal roles across the legal and policy landscape. Andrew Gass, who teaches copyright law at Berkeley, oversees a major firm’s copyright litigation practice. Crump herself served as a senior policy advisor for criminal justice at the White House in 2023. Clinic alum Jennifer Urban chairs the groundbreaking California Privacy Protection Agency Board. She serves alongside Electronic Frontier Foundation Executive Director Nicole Ozer, another clinic graduate. Their work directly safeguards your personal information in an era of constant data collection. Deirdre Mulligan, the clinic’s first director, recently acted as a principal deputy U.S. Chief Technology Officer. This leadership pipeline is no accident. It is the result of a model that treats students as essential partners in systemic change.

Ozer reflects on the clinic’s enduring necessity. When she considered becoming a public interest technology lawyer, the field barely existed. “We needed the new clinic then and still need it today,” she says. “Decisions about how technology is built and used have a profound impact on rights, justice, and opportunity.” In the age of artificial intelligence, these stakes are higher than ever. The clinic provides the training ground for the next generation of advocates who will confront these challenges. It gives them the practical skills to draft legislation, influence policy, and argue cases. More importantly, it instills a foundational set of values. Aaron Mackey, now Deputy Legal Director at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, says the skills and principles he learned at the clinic are things he uses every single day.

Former students describe the clinic as a career springboard. Heather Patterson, who has held senior roles at Meta and Intel Labs, says she walked out feeling confident and prepared. It set her career on the right foot. Jason Schultz, whose student ideas helped spark the clinic’s creation, later returned to serve as its co-director. He saw firsthand how it flourished by letting students be part of something bigger. They make differences that last. The weekly seminars create a culture of rigorous accountability. Students don’t just develop legal theory. They interact with real clients and partners. They learn that tech law is exciting precisely because it is not fixed. There is enormous room to help define the key societal issues and craft solutions.

Urban emphasizes this two way street of education. The students bring remarkable insight and energy. They constantly teach the faculty even as they learn. This dynamic is what allows the clinic to stay ahead of the curve. It is not just teaching law. It is cultivating the depth of expertise and the networks needed to create change. From a classroom discussion in 2001 to a global model replicated in over thirty law schools worldwide, the Samuelson Clinic’s legacy is clear. It proves that with the right mix of idealism, pragmatism, and legal skill, you can build a meaningful check on technological power. You can ensure it serves the public interest, not just private control. In a digital age that often feels overwhelming, that is a profoundly necessary mission.

• Reshaped digital rights
• Criminal justice reform
• Intellectual property advancements
• Training over a thousand public defenders
• Critical exemptions in copyright law
• Building future leaders in law and policy