In this age of cyber-communication, more law students are seeking classes in the growing field of Internet law. While some law schools have already created centers and special programs to accommodate students' increasing demands, the University only recently began to increase its number of Internet law classes.
Law Prof. Daniel Ortiz said he has had to teach two sections of his Internet-related class for the first time this semester because demand was so high.
"There were students who came to my office after they found out they couldn't get in," Ortiz said.
Second-year Law student Matt Branson said he was disappointed not to get into Ortiz's class.
"It seems like we're still in the process of figuring out what we're going to do," Branson said about the lack of Internet-related classes at the Law School.
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Prof. Robert O'Neil said he faces a similar problem each fall, when he offers his Free Expression in Cyberspace class: Too many students are applying for the limited number of slots.
O'Neil's class, first offered in 1996, provides Law students a more specialized education in Internet law issues.
The class examines laws concerning obscenity and child pornography, indecency harmful to minors, libel and invasion of privacy, then spam and encryption, O'Neil said.
During the first meeting of his "Free Expression in Cyberspace" class every year, he asks the students to tell why they were interested in taking the class.
"I was struck by the representative mix. Some of them are high-tech junkies, some are simply curious, and others are looking for an interesting and relevant course to fulfill their third-year writing requirement," O'Neil said.
The demand for certain types of law courses always correlates with trends in the courts and Congress, Law Prof. Glen Robinson said.
Ortiz said students are attracted to Internet law issues because there are many new opportunities and challenges and they are "pushing the frontier" of law and technology.
"People see a lot of potential for jobs and money" in this field, Ortiz said.
Richard Boone, third-year Law student and editor-in-chief of the Virginia Journal of Law and Technology, said law students are interested in technology because they grew up with the Internet.
"Students want to be part of the Internet boom," he said.
Robinson said there now is a movement toward hiring Internet law specialists.
"In the Silicon Valley area, there are law practices with exclusively e-commerce clients," he added.
There is also a broad spectrum of Internet-related job opportunities for University graduates that are fairly close to this area.
"There are many jobs in northern Virginia" in its high-tech corridor, as well as in Washington, D.C. and increasingly in New York, Ortiz said.
One of the hottest topics in cyberlaw right now is intellectual property law (IP), which includes patent, trademark and copyright law, said Robinson, who teaches a communications law course.
"It has a lot of sex appeal," he said.
Although student demand for Internet law classes has increased over the past decade, the Law School is not necessarily meeting the demand with an increased number of Internet-related classes. Instead, some Law professors who are interested in the subject are molding their classes around the topic.
In addition to altering existing classes, the Law School faculty approaches curriculum changes by selecting new faculty who are interested in the field, Robinson said.
Other universities, however, have taken a more formalized approach to meeting the new demand.
The University of California at Berkeley, Harvard University and Stanford University law schools have academic centers that specifically educate students about matters relating to law and technology.
Larry R. Trask, assistant director of the Berkeley Center of Law and Technology, said there has been a "steeply rising curve" of interest in Internet law and "enormous" demand for people who have specialized knowledge in the Silicon Valley area over the last five years.
Peter Menell, Berkeley law professor and director and co-founder of the Berkeley Center for Law and Technology, said that Boalt Hall, Berkeley's law school, offers about 20 courses each year that are related to software and Internet law.
"Boalt Hall is probably one school in the vanguard of law schools" that have an extensive program for technology law, Trask said.
Berkeley offers a broad Intellectual Property law class that has 250 students, and smaller upper-level seminars that have about 50 students each, according to Trask.
Ortiz noted that an academic center in this field is unusual, and that it is not always a valid factor in the quality of a school's offerings in that particular field.
"There is not much correlation between a center and a school's necessary strength" in a particular discipline, Ortiz said. "Some schools have special tax programs, for example, but others have outstanding programs without a center."
He added that the University Law School is considering establishing a center or at least assembling some funds to improve the technology curriculum here.
Third-year Law student Brian Chandler agreed the School of Law does not necessarily need a center for technology studies.
"A lot of professors have special interest in certain fields and bring those to their classes," Chandler said.
Branson agreed that the Law School offers students enough choices in the field of Internet law without a center.
George Alexander, a Santa Clara University law professor who specializes in antitrust and constitutional law, said that Santa Clara's technology-related curriculum has benefited by being so close to Silicon Valley.
He pointed out that Santa Clara University's Specialty Law Program for Intellectual Property was ranked No. 5 out of over 150 such programs in the U.S. News & World Report rankings this year.
The University's Law school is ranked No. 16 on the same list.
In addition to computer access from every seat in its classrooms, Santa Clara offers special programs of technology law study.
"We offer two specialty certificates in high-tech and international high-tech law," Alexander said. "Our program requires three courses that are basic patents, copyright law and then a number of units from a broad selection of related courses."
Ortiz said the University does not offer formal specialty certificates, but it does help students on a specific track for informal concentrations.
These include law and technology, biotechnology and tax law, Ortiz said.
While Internet law classes may touch on unique material, the material is not altogether separate from that of traditional law courses.
Robinson said some issues that are part of Internet law, such as antitrust law, are "not radically different" from general law in other industries.
"Cyberlaw depends on knowing about the larger framework" of IP law, he said. "For example, tax and antitrust laws are the same for two e-commerce companies to merge as it is for two banks."
Other issues that are part of general corporation laws include securities and tax law, Robinson said.
This overlap makes courses in Internet law "useful to someone in private practice" or someone who is considering "working in entertainment, copyright or intellectual property law," O'Neil said.
Ortiz said students who focus on cyberlaw also enter the fields of corporate law and venture capital, general commercial law, litigation and business law.
Boone said he thinks Internet law will remain a popular specialty even after the boom dies down, "as long as the Internet is around, since it is economically important."
"There is a huge push to get as many people in the high-tech corridor in northern Virginia as possible," Boone said.
Alexander said, "without a doubt," he feels the popularity of a specialized technological law education will spread over the country.
O'Neil said the Law School is considering offering more generalized courses in these fields that can accommodate more students.
"I anticipate a gradual increase in the number of classes as more students get involved in this field," he said.
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