Data has transformed the way businesses and institutions operate. Globally laws and regulations are reacting to technological changes to encourage responsible data practices. Information privacy, data protection and artificial intelligence concerns are fueling a fast growing field ideally suited to law-trained professionals. That’s why Maine Law offers a series of summer courses on critical and current information privacy issues designed to introduce students to this dynamic domain.
Existing attorneys can leverage the session to earn CLE credits or venture into a growing and dynamic new practice area; current J.D. candidates can develop a valuable specialty while still in school. Whether you’re deeply familiar with information privacy law or new to the subject, this summer session could change your career.
2024 Information Privacy Summer Institute
The annual Information Privacy Summer Institute was held from May 20 – June 6, 2024 on the Maine Law Campus, 300 Fore Street. A special one-day Privacy in Practice Conference was held on May 31, 2024 as part of the Summer Institute.
Registration is open to Professionals and J.D. students.
Visiting Law Students from Other Law Schools:
Students currently enrolled at other ABA approved law schools who have completed their first year and are in good standing may request to enroll by completing a Non-Degree Student Registration Form. We also require a letter from the Dean of their law school certifying that the applicant is in good standing and has completed or is in the process of completing their first year of law study.
Non-degree/Special Students:
Applicants not currently enrolled in an ABA approved law school program may enroll in Summer Session classes with the permission of the Associate Dean and course instructor. Special students may request to enroll by completing a Non-Degree Student Registration Form. Special students will be admitted based on available space. Credits obtained by a special student in the Summer Session may not be applied toward a J.D. degree at this law school if the student becomes a candidate for that degree in the future.
Summer 2024 Course Offerings
Global Privacy Law (2 credits)
Monday, May 20 – Thursday, May 23, 9 am – 4:30 pm
Personal data is the raw material for business models in industries ranging from online advertising, social networking, cloud computing, health and financial services. Governments, too, rely on personal data for purposes such as national security and law enforcement, urban planning and traffic control, public health and education. Emerging technologies greatly enhanced data collection, storage and analysis. In this context, public and commercial interests strain against individual rights, with privacy law serving as the mediator. This course will place privacy within a social and legal context and will investigate the complex grid of legal structures and institutions that govern privacy at state, national, and international levels. Students will be taught how to critically analyze privacy problems and make observations about sources of law and their interpretation, with an emphasis on the global nature of data. The final grade will be based on class attendance/participation, and a take-home exam.
Professor Bio:
Gabe Maldoff is an associate in Goodwin’s Data, Privacy, and Cybersecurity practice. He provides a global perspective on privacy, data protection, and technology law issues, drawing from his experience practicing in the UK, US, and with an international think tank. Gabe is also an Adjunct Professor at Maine Law School where he teaches a course called Global Privacy Law. His research on US, Canadian and European privacy and national security laws has featured in journals in the US and Europe. He currently serves as a member of the Arbitration Panel for the EU-US Privacy Shield Framework. Before joining Goodwin, Gabe worked for top-ranked law firms in London, UK, and Washington, DC He also served as a Westin Fellow at the International Association of Privacy Professionals. Gabe has a BA in Environmental Sciences from McGill University and a J.D. from the University of Maryland School of Law.
International Data Transfers and Digital Trade Law (1 credit)
Tuesday, May 28 & Wednesday, May 29, 9 am – 4:30 pm
The proliferation of new or updated data privacy laws around the world has resulted in a marked rise in the number and variety of rules relating to cross-border transfers of personal data. This class will explore some of the trends and developments that have shaped domestic and international frameworks governing data transfers, from the EU GDPR, to the OECD, to the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Free Trade Agreement. This class will also dive into some of the specific barriers to data flows, such as data localization, as well as the mechanisms that legally effect cross-border transfers of personal data and how organizations utilize those mechanisms. This is a pass/fail course. Grade will be assessed based upon class participation and in-class assignments.
Professor Bio
Joe Jones serves as the Director of Research and Insights for the International Association of Privacy Professionals (IAPP). Leading the Research & Insights team, he provides strategic direction and contributes to the development of practical content for privacy professionals on privacy law and policy, data protection management, and privacy technology and engineering. This work includes engaging with privacy leaders from industry, government, academia and civil society as he keeps IAPP members informed on data protection developments around the world. Previously, Joe served as the Deputy Director for International Data Transfers with the UK Government where he led the team responsible for UK Government policies relating to free and secure flow of data internationally. This included work on data adequacy partnerships, alternative transfer mechanisms, and multilateral initiatives that promote the trusted exchange of data across borders. Other prior roles include serving as the UK Government’s Deputy Head of Digital Trade policy and working in the private sector as a lawyer on international data issues with Covington & Burling LLP. Joe received his BA in Jurisprudence (Law) with honors from the University of Oxford and his Legal Practitioner Course with honors from the University of Law.
In-house Privacy Practice (1 credit)
Thursday, May 30 & Friday, May 31, 9 am – 4:30 pm
Although each organization is different, serving as in-house privacy counsel or chief privacy officer requires a common set of skills. This course will address common practice areas for in-house privacy attorneys including contracts (adding privacy and security provisions to standard commercial contracts): policies and standards (drafting and updating internal and customer-facing policies and guidelines); and governance (setting up internal programs for compliance). The course will feature input from selected, in-house counsel with various industries of various sizes and geographic reach. The second day of the course is the annual Privacy in Practice conference.
Professor Bio:
Rita Heimes is General Counsel and Chief Privacy Officer of the International Association of Privacy Professionals (IAPP), a non-profit membership association serving the privacy profession globally. Prior to joining the IAPP in 2015 as its first Research Director, Rita served as the Director for the Center for Law + Innovation at the University of Maine School of Law for 14 years, where she is still a Senior Fellow and adjunct professor, hosting and teaching in the annual Information Privacy Summer Institute. She also enjoyed a career in private practice with law firms in Seattle, Boulder and Portland, focusing principally on intellectual property law. Rita held a clerkship with the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit following graduation from Drake University School of Law, which she attended after receiving her BA from the University of Iowa. She lives with her family in Portland, Maine.
Privacy Justice Seminar (2 credits)
Monday, June 3 – Thursday, June 6, 9 am – 4:30 pm
This Seminar will explore how privacy protects four democratic freedoms—knowledge, decision making, movement, and autonomy—and why surveillance can threaten those freedoms and inflict acute harms on marginalized people. Sessions’ themes will be framed by surveillance-related video games, in which students will assume roles of individuals engaged in surveillance, resisting surveillance, and subject to surveillance. Those games will be supplemented with a diverse array of legal and sociotechnical readings, films, and podcasts that develop students’ doctrinal knowledge and prepare them to deploy their legal skills to combat privacy injustices.
Professor Bio:
Amanda Levendowski is the Founding Director of the Intellectual Property and Information Policy Clinic (iPIP) and an Associate Professor of Law at Georgetown Law. Her projects and research explore law, technology, and justice. She received the Public Knowledge 20/20 Visionaries Award, which recognized 20 future leaders in technology policy advocacy, and a Gender+ Justice grant for her work on face surveillance. Before joining Georgetown, she co-taught the NYU Technology Law & Policy Clinic, where she was an Engelberg Center Fellow and affiliate researcher with the Information Law Institute. She previously worked in the New York offices of Cooley and Kirkland & Ellis. Amanda received her J.D. from New York University, where she received the Walter J. Derenberg Prize for copyright law and was nominated to the Order of the Barristers, and her B.A. from New York University, where she created a concentration in Publishing, Copyright, and Technology.