Technology Law & Policy Clinic Goes to Washington DC for Spring Break

Second year law student Paul Shoning summarized how he spent his 2008 spring break:

“Spring break. While most law students enjoyed a week off from classes before starting the push toward final exams, students from Colorado Law’s Samuelson-Glushko Technology Law & Policy Clinic (TLPC) received a behind-the-scenes look at regulatory and legislative advocacy. Four TLPC students joined Associate Clinical Professor Brad Bernthal and Silicon Flatirons Fellow Jill Van Matre in Washington, DC, for meetings with legal advisors at the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), legislative aids on Capitol Hill, and other communications industry insiders. The trip was made possible by a generous donation from Patton Boggs.

The TLPC met people with unsurpassed expertise – ranging  from a former FCC Chairman Dick Wiley of Wiley Rein, to FCC Commissioner Deborah Tate, to the Chief of the FCC’s Office of Engineering and Technology Julius Knapp, to majority counsel for the House Subcommittee on Telecommunications and the Internet. Students had the opportunity to lead ex parte meetings at the FCC. Additional discussions with legislative aids and Congressional staffers yielded a valuable understanding of the inner workings of the legislative process. Perhaps most inspiring was the realization that an independent legal clinic like the TLPC can provide a valuable service to policy-makers who often lack the time or resources to conduct their own rigorous and even-handed policy analysis.

A final highlight of our trip was a TLPC dinner with the growing contingent of Alumni and Friends of CU Law School in DC. Nick Alexander (Class of ’01), who was instrumental in coordinating several DC meetings, joined roughly 15 alumni and friends of the Silicon Flatirons Center for the dinner. As Colorado Law continues to build a national reputation for technology policy expertise, we look forward to expanding this growing network.”