Christopher T. Bavitz has been appointed Clinical Professor of Law at Harvard Law School. Bavitz has been a Clinical Instructor and Lecturer on Law at HLS and is Managing Director of the Cyberlaw Clinic at the Berkman Center for Internet & Society.
“Chris brings imagination and deep experience in the digital and intellectual property worlds; his wide-ranging knowledge of media and IP law and his talent for creative problem-solving enable our students and colleagues to engage in exciting and meaningful advocacy and policy work,” said Harvard Law School Dean Martha Minow. “His role in Harvard’s Digital Problem-Solving Initiative and in building ties with the University’s i-Lab are models for cross-disciplinary thinking and innovation.”
Bavitz has concentrated his law practice and clinical activities on intellectual property and technology law, with an emphasis on music, media, and entertainment. He oversees many of the Cyberlaw Clinic’s projects relating to copyright, trademark, online speech, and advising of mission-driven startups and entrepreneurs about their legal, business and strategic needs. He also works on issues relating to the use of technology to promote access to justice.
Bavitz joined the Cyberlaw Clinic in 2008 as a Clinical Fellow. He was named Assistant Director in 2009 and promoted to Clinical Instructor at HLS in 2010. He became the Cyberlaw Clinic’s Managing Director last year.
The Clinic was founded in 1999 and is based at Harvard’s Berkman Center for Internet & Society, a University-wide research center dedicated to exploring cyberspace, sharing in its study, and pioneering its development. “Chris has been instrumental in the success of the Cyberlaw Clinic, is a devoted teacher and mentor, and a wonderful colleague to work with,” said Urs Gasser, the Berkman Center’s Executive Director and a Professor of Practice at HLS. “The Berkman Center community is delighted about Chris’s appointment. We look forward to continuing to collaborate closely with him and his great team on many of the pressing Internet law and policy issues of our time.”
Bavitz serves as Harvard Law School’s Dean’s Designate to the Harvard Innovation Lab, where he works closely with HLS’s Experts in Residence and attorneys who offer legal services to the i-Lab. He teaches the Music & Digital Media seminar and has co-taught the long-running Practical Lawyering in Cyberspace seminar at the Law School. He serves as a mentor in the Harvard University-wide Digital Problem-Solving Initiative, a cross-disciplinary teaching effort being piloted at the Berkman Center. He is also a member of Harvard Law School’s Public Service Venture Fund Seed Grant Selection Committee and served as a Preliminary Judge for Harvard University’s President’s Challenge this year.
Prior to joining the Clinic, Bavitz served as Senior Director of Legal Affairs for EMI Music North America and as a litigation associate at Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal and RubinBaum LLP. He received his J.D. from the University of Michigan Law School in 1998 and his B.A. from Tufts University in 1995.