Stanford Law welcomes the Honorable Michelle K. Lee, JD ‘92, as the Herman Phleger Visiting Professor for the 2017-18 school year. Lee has served in public office as the Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and most recently as the Director of the US Patent and Trade Office, where she was the principal advisor to President Obama on domestic and international intellectual property policy matters.

“I am thrilled that the law school community will benefit from Michelle’s spectacular experience with intellectual property law and policy,” said M. Elizabeth Magill, Richard E. Lang Professor of Law and Dean of Stanford Law School.  We are so lucky to have her with us this year.”

During the winter quarter, Lee will teach Disruptive Technologies: Their Impact on our Laws, and the Laws Impact on the Technology.  The class will be informed by her work at the USPTO as well as her experience as Head of Patents and Patent Strategy at Google and as a partner at Silicon-Valley-based law firm Fenwick & West, where she advised clients on technology licensing, intellectual property, litigation, and corporate matters. The course will focus on the examples of driverless cars and artificial intelligence and examine the new and challenging legal questions and opportunities presented by these technologies. The class will also discuss how business leaders, lawyers and technologists in these areas can navigate and create legal, regulatory and policy environments designed to help their businesses not only survive but thrive.

Lee’s tenure at the USPTO will provide unique perspective to her spring quarter class, Advanced Negotiation of Patent Reform Policies.  This is a hands-on, collaborative class which will use simulations and mock negotiations to give students will an understanding of some of the most current patent policy issues being debated in Congress and before the USPTO.