This course examines how the legal system responds to technological change. We will study the legal, economic, and social impacts of so-called “disruptive” technologies; the strategies through which courts, legislatures, administrative agencies, and international institutions respond to the legal uncertainty surrounding new technologies; and efforts by both incumbent and newcomer industries—and their attorneys—to use the law to support their preferred business models in the face of change.

Technologies discussed may include smartphones, autonomous weapon systems, domestic drones, robotics, driverless cars, cyberwarfare, the railroad, the internet of things, social media, big data analytics, the sharing economy, 3D-printing, as well as developments appearing in this semester’s headlines.

Requisites: This course is appropriate for students regardless of their prior experience with technology or their career interests; there are no course prerequisites. New technologies have raised challenges in every area of the law and the regulatory strategies and modes of legal argumentation explored in this course are transferable across subject areas