The Benjamin N Cardozo School of Law in New York has launched a new programme offering legal training in information governance, electronic discovery, data privacy, social media law and cyber security. Between them, these subjects cover a wide range of areas which are essential for 21st-century lawyers.
The director of the CDLI will be Professor Patrick Burke, Counsel at Reed Smith LLP. The Associate Director will be Professor Denise Backhouse, a shareholder at Littler Mendelson, whose practice focuses on the discovery, international data privacy and security issues. I have known both of them for a long time and can say with certainty that Cardozo has picked the right people.
US Magistrate Judge John Facciola, a well-known judicial authority on eDiscovery and related matters, has long complained that the training offered at most US Law schools differs very little from what he was taught 45 years ago. The course devised by Cardozo aims to remedy that, at least for those fortunate enough to join the courses.
There is a press release about the initiative here. Patrick Burke and Denise Backhouse are supported by a a 20 strong Board of Advisers; I know 14 of them and can say from personal experience that this is as good a selection of advisers as could be found for a law course whose focus is on practical things.
Here is a video interview which I made with Patrick Burke and Denise Backhouse in February in which they describe the importance of the broader educational initiatives to which they and Cardozo are committed. I will be interested to hear from them how it goes.
eDisclosure Information Project 