The School of Engineering and Applied Sciences and Penn Law School announced on Tuesday the establishment of the Law and Technology program, a new graduate program offering a joint degree in engineering and law.
The curriculum will allow students to graduate with a juris doctorate and a master’s in any engineering field. The program’s first class is expected to matriculate in fall 2014.
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Engineering Dean Eduardo Glandt said in a statement, “Engineers have become increasingly aware of the need to understand better the legal and regulatory frameworks that govern the development, implementation, use and monetization of technology.”
Glandt stressed that “the demand for such interdisciplinary training is likely to intensify for years to come.”
Though standard law school curricula last only three years and most master’s in engineering programs take two years, the Law and Technology program will run for four years.
Students in the program will spend their first year exclusively at Penn Law, and their second at the School of Engineering. Their third and fourth years will be spent taking classes from both schools.
Like their classmates in the regular J.D. program, Law and Technology students will also be responsible for at least 70 hours of pro bono public service work in order to gain the degree.
Faculty in both schools are already familiar with this special brand of interdisciplinary teaching. Penn Law is home to the Center for Technology, Innovation and Competition, a think tank that publishes on issues of technology policy, and the Detkin Intellectural Property and Technology Legal Clinic, which provides pro bono services in patent, copyright, and trademark law.
Engineering professor Jonathan Smith, who holds patents in areas like cryptography and network security, and Penn Law professor Christopher Yoo, an intellectual property expert, will lead the program’s administration.
Law Dean Michael Fitts shared in Glandt’s optimism. The program, he said, “is further proof that a cross-disciplinary approach to legal education is critical to preparing law graduates to navigate this increasingly complex world.”
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