Renowned Internet copyright lawyer, political activist Lawrence Lessig to deliver two lectures Oct. 10

Popular TED Talks presenter to discuss reclaiming our government at noon, bringing copyright law into the Internet Age at 5 p.m.

Legal scholar, author and political activist Lawrence Lessig, JD, is such a popular speaker that it’s challenging to get him for one lecture, so Washington University in St. Louis is doubly fortunate to present an Assembly Series talk by Lessig twice in one day – Thursday, Oct. 10 — on two different subjects.

Both presentations are free and open to the public.

At noon, he will appear in Anheuser-Busch Hall’s Bryan Cave Moot Courtroom to explain his plan to remove the corrupting influence of money from American politics, a theme he has explored in his most recent book, Republic Lost: How Money Corrupts Congress – and a Plan to Stop It.

The address is part of the School of Law’s Public Interest Law & Policy Speaker Series. (For a list of PILPSS fall lectures, visit here.)

At 5 p.m. in Simon Hall May Auditorium, Lessig will deliver the first Jack and Debbie Thomas Lecture Series in Honor of Shirley K. Baker. This talk will focus on another passion of his, advocating for a more sensible approach to copyright law that more aptly reflects the needs of a digitized citizenry. Baker retired last year as dean of university libraries and vice chancellor for information technology.

Lessig has a substantial presence on the Web. In addition to numerous YouTube videos (one of which is the subject of a current lawsuit and countersuit involving the song “Lisztomania”), his two presentations for TED Talks (“Laws that Choke Creativity” and “We the People and the Laws We Must Reclaim”) have generated more than 1 million hits each.

He is the author of several books on copyright law. Prior to rejoining Harvard University as the Roy L. Furman Professor of Law and Leadership and director of the Edmond J. Safra Center for Ethics, Lessig taught at Stanford Law School, where he established the Center for Internet and Society.

Furthermore, he has served on the boards of the AXA Research Fund, Creative Commons and the Sunlight Foundation. For his many contributions, Lessig has received such honors as the Free Software Foundation’s Freedom Award and was named one of Scientific American’s “Top 50 Visionaries.”

Before entering academia, Lessig was a clerk for Judge Richard Posner of the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals and for Justice Antonin Scalia of the U.S. Supreme Court.

He holds bachelor’s degrees in economics and management from the University of Pennsylvania; a master’s degree in philosophy from Cambridge University; and a law degree from Yale University.

For more information on these and future Assembly Series programs, visit assemblyseries.wustl.edu.