CINXE.COM

<!DOCTYPE html> <html lang="en-us"><head> <title>Lawrence Lessig - LESSIG - Bio</title><meta name="robots" content="all" /><meta name="description" content="Lawrence Lessig is the Roy L. Furman Professor of Law and Leadership at Harvard Law School.Prior to rejoining the Harvard faculty, Lessig wa" /><meta charset="UTF-8" /><meta name="dcterms.rightsHolder" content="Slabmedia, LLC - created with the Slab web sytstem."><meta name="dcterms.rights" content="web system (c) 2025 Slabmedia, LLC, All content belongs to LESSIG "><meta name="dcterms.dateCopyrighted" content="2025"><meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1, maximum-scale=2" /><meta property="og:title" content="Lawrence Lessig - LESSIG - Bio" /><meta property="og:description" content="Lawrence Lessig is the Roy L. Furman Professor of Law and Leadership at Harvard Law School.Prior to rejoining the Harvard faculty, Lessig wa" /><meta property="og:image" content="https://lessig.org/images/about/lessig.jpg" /><meta property="og:type" content="website" /><meta property="og:url" content="https://lessig.org/about/f/Bio/" /><link rel="canonical" href="https://lessig.org/about/f/Bio/" /><link rel="image_src" href="https://lessig.org/images/about/lessig.jpg" /><link rel="icon" href="https://lessig.org/favicon.png" type="image/png" /><link rel="alternate" href="https://lessig.org/about/f/Bio/" hreflang="en-us" /><link href="https://lessig.org/common/styles/font-awesome-4.7.0/css/font-awesome.min.css" rel="stylesheet" /><link href="https://lessig.org/common/styles/resources.min.css" rel="stylesheet" /><link href="https://lessig.org/common/js/videojs/style.min.css" rel="stylesheet" /><link href="https://lessig.org/common/styles/usermenu.min.css" rel="stylesheet" /><link href="https://lessig.org/common/uploadz/dropzone.css" rel="stylesheet" /><link href="https://lessig.org/common/styles/framework/defaults/root.min.css" rel="stylesheet" /><link href="https://lessig.org/common/styles/framework/defaults/slabgrid.min.css" rel="stylesheet" /><link href="https://lessig.org/common/styles/framework/defaults/slabgridburger.min.css" rel="stylesheet" /><link href="https://lessig.org/common/styles/contactsignupform.min.css" rel="stylesheet" /><link href="https://fonts.googleapis.com/css?family=Lato:300,300i,700,700i&display=swap" rel="stylesheet"><link href="https://lessig.org/style_custom.css?mod=1736368117" rel="stylesheet" /><script src="/common/js/slab.basics.js"></script><script src="/common/js/jquery-1.11.3.min.js"></script><script src="/common/js/jquery-ui-1.11.4.custom/jquery-ui.min.js"></script><script src="/common/js/jquery.mobile.custom.min.js"></script><script src="/common/uploadz/dropzone-min.js"></script><script>const prefix = 'lessig';</script><script src="/common/js/slab.actions.min.js"></script><script src="/common/js/slab.admin.actions.min.js"></script><script src="/common/js/spin.min.js"></script><script src="/common/js/slab.audio.min.js"></script><script src="/common/js/html5.min.js" ></script><script src="/common/js/slab.convert2slash.min.js" ></script><script src="https://lessig.org/actions.min.js?mod=1661149614"></script></head> <body class="about_page "><section id="container"><header> <a href="#main" class="skip-to-main-content-link">Skip to main content</a> <a id="hamburger"><span class="htop hlines"></span><span class="hmid hlines"></span><span class="hbot hlines"></span></a> <a class="scrollup"></a> <a id="site_logo" href="https://lessig.org/"><span>LESSIG </span></a> <div class="inner"> <nav id="main_nav"> <ol> <li id="homepage_nav"><a href="https://lessig.org/"><span>home</span></a></li> <li id="writing_nav"><a href="https://lessig.org/product/intro/"><span>writing</span></a> <ol> <li class="topsubnav"><a href="https://lessig.org/product/intro/"><span>books</span></a></li> <li class="topsubnav"><a href="https://lessig.org/lists/articles/"><span>articles</span></a></li> <li class="topsubnav"><a href="https://lessig.org/lists/essays/"><span>essays</span></a></li> <li class="topsubnav"><a href="https://lessig.org/testimony/"><span>testimony</span></a></li> <li class="topsubnav"><a href="https://lessig.medium.com/" target="_blank"><span>medium <i class="fa fa-external-link" aria-hidden="true"></i></span></a></li> <li class="topsubnav"><a href="https://lessig.tumblr.com/" target="_blank"><span>blog v.2 <i class="fa fa-external-link" aria-hidden="true"></i></span></a></li> <li class="topsubnav"><a href="https://archives.lessig.org/" target="_blank"><span>blog v.1 <i class="fa fa-external-link" aria-hidden="true"></i></span></a></li> <li class="topsubnav"><a href="https://wiki.lessig.org/Main_Page" target="_blank"><span>wiki <i class="fa fa-external-link" aria-hidden="true"></i></span></a></li> </ol> </li> <li id="media_nav"><a href="https://lessig.org/media/"><span>media</span></a> <ol> <li class="topsubnav"><a href="https://lessig.org/gallery/video/"><span>video</span></a></li> <li> <li class="topsubnav"><a href="https://lessig.org/links/audio/"><span>audio</span></a></li> <li class="topsubnav"><a href="https://lessig.org/gallery/photos/"><span>pics</span></a></li> </ol> </li> <li id="about_nav"><a href="https://lessig.org/about/"><span>about</span></a> <ol><li class="topsubnav lit"><a href="https://lessig.org/about/f/Bio/"><span>Bio</span></a></li><li class="topsubnav"><a href="https://lessig.org/about/f/CV/"><span>CV</span></a></li><li class="topsubnav"><a href="https://lessig.org/about/f/Disclosure/"><span>Disclosure</span></a></li></ol> </li> <li id="calendar_nav"><a href="https://lessig.org/gigs/"><span>gigs</span></a></li> <li id="contact_nav"><a href="https://lessig.org/contact/"><span>contact</span></a></li> </ol> </nav> <div id="social_nav"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/pages/Lessigorg/163383737008137" target="_blank" class="faicon iconfacebook" title="facebook"><i class="fa fa-facebook" aria-hidden="true"><span class="sociallabel" style="display:none;" aria-hidden="false">facebook</span></i></a><a href="https://www.instagram.com/lawlessig/?hl=en" target="_blank" class="faicon iconinstagram" title="instagram"><i class="fa fa-instagram" aria-hidden="true"><span class="sociallabel" style="display:none;" aria-hidden="false">instagram</span></i></a><a href="https://www.youtube.com/user/lessig" target="_blank" class="faicon iconyoutube" title="youtube"><i class="fa fa-youtube-play" aria-hidden="true"><span class="sociallabel" style="display:none;" aria-hidden="false">youtube</span></i></a><a href="https://www.twitter.com/lessig" target="_blank" class="faicon icontwitter" title="twitter"><span class="xicon">&#x1D54F</span><span class="sociallabel" style="display:none;" aria-hidden="false">twitter</span></i><span class="icon"></span></a><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/cclessig" target="_blank" class="faicon iconflickr" title="flickr"><i class="fa fa-flickr" aria-hidden="true"><span class="sociallabel" style="display:none;" aria-hidden="false">flickr</span></i></a></div> <a id="darkmodetoggle" title="dark mode"> <span class="light"><i class="fa fa-sun-o" aria-hidden="true"></i></span> <span class="dark lit"><i class="fa fa-moon-o" aria-hidden="true"></i></span> <span class="dmfeedback"></span> </a> <div class="clr"></div> </div> </header> <nav id="subnav"><ol><li class="topsubnav lit"><a href="https://lessig.org/about/f/Bio/"><span>Bio</span></a></li><li class="topsubnav"><a href="https://lessig.org/about/f/CV/"><span>CV</span></a></li><li class="topsubnav"><a href="https://lessig.org/about/f/Disclosure/"><span>Disclosure</span></a></li></ol></nav> <div id="loginWindow"></div><div id="main"><div id="mainbox" class="mainbox"><div class="entries"><div id="entry1" class="story introduction story1" itemscope itemtype="http://schema.org/AboutPage"><h3 class="category">Bio</h3><h1 id="title1" class="title" itemprop="headline">About Lessig</h1><div itemscope itemtype="http://schema.org/ImageObject" itemprop="image" class="imageright mainimg" style="max-width:450px;"><meta itemprop="url" content="https://lessig.org/about/f/Bio/" /><img src="https://lessig.org/images/about/2016-12-12-1.jpg" alt="" itemprop="contentUrl" style="opacity:0" onload="$(this).animate({opacity:1},333);" /></div><div id="body1" class="aboutbody storyp body"><p>Lawrence Lessig is the Roy L. Furman Professor of Law and Leadership at Harvard Law School. (The Roy Furman chair is in honor of <a href="https://today.law.harvard.edu/leadership-profile-a-conversation-with-roy-l-furman-63/">this extraordinary alumnus</a>.)</p><p>Prior to rejoining the Harvard faculty, where he was the Berkman Professor of Law until 2000, Lessig was a professor at Stanford Law School, where he founded the school’s Center for Internet and Society, and at the University of Chicago.</p><p>Lessig clerked for Judge Richard Posner on the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals and Justice Antonin Scalia on the United States Supreme Court. He serves on the Board of the AXA Research Fund, and is an Emeritus member of the board at Creative Commons. </p><p>Lessig is a Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the American Philosophical Association, and has received numerous awards, including the Free Software Foundation’s Freedom Award, Fastcase 50 Award.  In 2002, he was named one of Scientific American’s Top 50 Visionaries.</p><p>Lessig holds a BA in economics and a BS in management from the University of Pennsylvania, an MA in philosophy from Cambridge, and a JD from Yale.</p></div><div class="resources attachments" data-id="1"></div><div class="clr"></div> </div></div><div class="clr mainbox_bottom"></div></div> <div id="menubox"><div id="menuboxinner" class="inner"><div class="boxtop"></div><div class="boxbody"><div id="about_subnav" class="subnav"><div id="category_0" class="category category0 catlit"><h4 class="menu_category catlit"><a id="Bio_link" href="https://lessig.org/about/f/Bio//">Bio</a></h4><div class="clr"></div></div><div id="category_1" class="category category1"><h4 class="menu_category"><a id="CV_link" href="https://lessig.org/about/f/CV//">CV</a></h4><div class="clr"></div></div><div id="category_2" class="category category2"><h4 class="menu_category"><a id="Disclosure_link" href="https://lessig.org/about/f/Disclosure//">Disclosure</a></h4><div class="clr"></div></div><div class="clr"></div></div></div> <div class="boxbottom"></div></div> <div class="clr"></div></div> <div class="clr"></div></div> <footer><span id="footer_main"><span id="copyright"><a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"><img alt="Creative Commons License" style="border-width:0" src="https://i.creativecommons.org/l/by/4.0/80x15.png" /></a><div class="hidden" aria-hidden="true"><span xmlns:dct="http://purl.org/dc/terms/" property="dct:title">Lessig Website</span> by <a xmlns:cc="http://creativecommons.org/ns#" href="lessig.org" property="cc:attributionName" rel="cc:attributionURL">Lessig</a> is licensed under a <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License</a></div></span> <a href="https://slabmedia.com/" target="_blank" class="slabfooter2022 white" rel="nofollow"><span>This website custom designed by Slabmedia</span></a></span><div class="clr"></div></footer><script type="application/ld+json"> { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@type": "LocalBusiness", "name": "LESSIG ", "image": "https://lessig.org/images/about/lessig.jpg", "url": "https://lessig.org", "sameAs": [ "https://www.facebook.com/pages/Lessigorg/163383737008137", "https://www.instagram.com/lawlessig/?hl=en", "https://www.youtube.com/user/lessig", "https://www.twitter.com/lessig" ] } </script><script type="application/ld+json"> { "@context":"http://schema.org", "@type":"Organization", "url":"https://lessig.org", "contactPoint":[] } </script><script type="application/ld+json"> { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [{ "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "item": { "@id": "https://lessig.org/", "name": "about" } },{ "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "item": { "@id": "https://lessig.org/about/f/", "name": "f" } },{ "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "item": { "@id": "https://lessig.org/about/f/Bio/", "name": "Bio" } }] } </script></section></body> </html>