Distinguished Faculty Lecture: Ethan Katsh
Ethan Katsh, professor of legal studies at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, will give the first of five Distinguished Faculty Lectures. The event is free and open the public.
Katsh’s talk, “Law in a Digital World: New Processes for an Age of Conflict and Change,” focuses on how computers and the Internet have an impact on law far beyond such highly publicized issues as file sharing of music, censorship in China and online pornography. Katsh will discuss how particular intellectual property or free expression cases should be resolved and how potential online civic institutions could protect the values and goals these legal doctrines enshrine. He’ll also talk about new processes for dispute resolution and other cyber-mechanisms needed to protect the rule of law.
Katsh has been involved with online dispute resolution since 1996. He is co-director of the Online Ombuds Office, and in 1997 he co-founded the Center for Information Technology and Dispute Resolution at UMass Amherst. In 2001, he received a grant from the Markle Foundation to improve accessibility to domain name dispute rulings. From 1997-99, Katsh mediated a variety of disputes online, involving domain name/trademark issues, other intellectual property conflicts, disputes with Internet service providers and others. In the spring of 1999, he supervised a project with the online auction site eBay where more than 150 disputes were mediated during a two-week period. Katsh has written three books on law and technology, Law in a Digital World (1995), The Electronic Media and the Transformation of Law (1989), and, with Janet Rifkin, Online Dispute Resolution: Resolving Conflicts in Cyberspace (2001). His articles have appeared in the Yale Law Journal, the University of Chicago Legal Forum and other law reviews and legal periodicals.
Katsh chairs the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) Expert Group on ODR and coordinated the 2002 and 2003 UNECE Online Dispute Resolution conferences. He has been visiting professor of law and cyberspace at Brandeis University, is on the board of advisors of the Democracy Design Workshop, serves on the legal advisory board of the InSites E-governance and Civic Engagement Project, and is a fellow of the American Bar Foundation. He joined the university in 1970. Katsh earned his bachelor’s degree from New York University in 1967 and a law degree from Yale Law School in 1970.
The other four lectures in the series will be delivered by Vincent M. Rotello, department of chemistry, Wednesday, Dec. 6, 2006; Joseph I. Goldstein, department of mechanical and industrial engineering, Monday, Feb. 5, 2007; Sut Jhally, department of communication, Thursday, March 8, 2007, and Melinda A. Novak, department of psychology, Monday, April 23, 2007.
A reception follows each talk. Faculty members in the series receive a Chancellor’s Medal following their lectures. The Chancellor’s Medal is the highest honor bestowed on individuals for exemplary and extraordinary service to the campus. The lecture series is sponsored by the offices of the chancellor and the provost.
