Lawrence Lessig, Professor at Harvard Law School, is coming to Austin to speak on the corrosive influence of Money in Politics, thanks to our good friends at the Coffee Party Austin. Seating is limited, and having a ticket will guarantee you a seat. However, if you do not get a ticket, there will be some seats left for those no-show ticket holders. We want to fill the room, so even if you don’t get a ticket, show up and chances are you can get in.
We’ve decided to give these away in a fashion befitting both Dr. Lessig and the Coffee Party, via social media. We will give away some via our Twitter, some on our Facebook, between now and the weekend. So friend us or follow us for your chance to score some of these fabulous prizes.
If you’ve never seen a Lessig presentation, you need to. Watch this brief clip, via Lessig’s FixCongressFirst Youtube page:
Professor Lessig’s presentation will be followed by a panel discussion, moderated by the Quorum Report’s Harvey Kronberg, featuring
- Hon. Sherri Greenberg, Interim Director of the UT Center for Politics and Governance
- Steve Bickerstaff, Adjunct Professor, UT Law School
- Brian Roberts, Professor of Government, UT
- and Mark McKinnon, Austin-based media consultant who serves on the board of FixCongressFirst with Professor Lessig.
Prof. Lessig’s presentation and the panel discussion will take place on Monday, February 28, 6:00-8:00 pm at the Thompson Conference Center. Seating at the Thompson Center is limited, but everyone presenting a free ticket by 5:50 pm will be guaranteed a seat. For tickets and further information, contact Joanne Richards, Coffee Party Austin, 512-345-4479.
This event is co-sponsored by Coffee Party Austin, LBJ School of Public Affairs, UT Law School, UT School of Government, and Public Citizen.
Lawrence Lessig is the Director of the Edmond J. Safra Foundation Center for Ethics at Harvard University, and a Professor of Law at Harvard Law School.
Prior to returning to Harvard, Lessig was a Professor of Law at Stanford Law School (where he was founder of Stanford’s Center for Internet and Society), Harvard Law School (1997-2000), and the University of Chicago Law School. Lessig clerked for Judge Richard Posner on the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals and Justice Antonin Scalia on the United States Supreme Court.
For much of his academic career, Lessig has focused on law and technology, especially as it affects copyright. He is the author of five books on the subject — Remix (2008), Code v2 (2007), Free Culture (2004), The Future of Ideas (2001) and Code and Other Laws of Cyberspace (1999) — and has served as lead counsel in a number of important cases marking the boundaries of copyright law in a digital age, including Eldred v. Ashcroft, a challenge to the 1998 Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act, and Golan v. Holder.
His current academic work addresses the question of “institutional corruption” — roughly, influences within an economy of influence that weaken the effectiveness of an institution, or weaken public trust. His current work at the EJ Safra Lab oversees a 5 year research project addressing institutional corruption in a number of institutional contexts.
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