Previous |
Next |
January 12, 2009, 02:28 PM ET
Guest Blogger: Facing the Unique Legal Challenges of College Technology
When colleges seek legal advice about technology issues, the lawyers they turn to don’t necessarily need to be experts on the gadgets involved. That was one theme that emerged when I asked a few of the members of National Association of College and University Attorneys to talk about the IT challenges they face. In fact, the less familiar the better, since the lawyer should help the technology administrators and the college tease out and articulate what it is they are trying to accomplish with any new project. Having to explain the project to an outsider on the legal team could actually further that process.
That’s what I heard from Norma Schwab, associate university counsel for Cornell University. “It leads me to ask lots of questions and force folks who are used to speaking in code to explain what they mean — I figure if it can’t be explained to me in a way that I can understand, then many people who are affected by an issue will not understand it either.”
Randy Geller, deputy general counsel for the University of Oregon, said the challenges go beyond translating jargon. In many cases, he said, the hard part is to “apply legal concepts and statutes that never envisioned the technology.”
The rapid changes in technology do keep things interesting, said Patricia McClary, associate university counsel at Cornell. “Supporting IT means never having to say you’re bored,” she told me. “It provides an endless supply of interesting, cutting-edge legal questions in fields as diverse as criminal law, intellectual property, privacy, communications, and export law.” Her reflections speak to an interesting debate that emerged in early years of the Internet: Did the technology constitute a whole new body of law, or did the existing substantive areas of law just need a little update? —Tracy Mitrano
Tracy Mitrano, our January guest blogger, is director of information-technology policy in Cornell University’s Office of Information Technologies, where she also directs the computer policy and law program.
Categories: Legal-Troubles
Add Your Comment
Commenting is closed.