Jennifer M. Urban is a Clinical Professor of Law at UC Berkeley School of Law, where she is Director of Policy Initiatives at the Samuelson Law, Technology & Public Policy Clinic. Her research focuses on information policy: intellectual property, privacy and data protection, and security. She regularly collaborates with technologists and academics in disciplines other than law to develop empirically grounded understandings of how new technologies and the regulatory structures around them interact with civil liberties, innovation, and creative expression. In March 2021, Urban was appointed by California Governor Gavin Newsom to be the inaugural Chair of the California Privacy Protection Agency Board.
Urban and her clinic students represent clients in numerous public interest cases related to information policy. Recent projects focus on individual privacy rights, copyright and free expression, artists’ rights, free and open source licensing, government surveillance, the “smart” electricity grid, biometrics, and defensive patent licensing. With Professor Chris Hoofnagle, she teaches interdisciplinary courses in cybersecurity that emphasize how ethical, legal, and economic frameworks enable and constrain security technologies and policies.
Urban joined the Berkeley Law faculty in 2009. Prior to that, she founded and directed the USC Intellectual Property & Technology Law Clinic at the University of Southern California, Gould School of Law. Before that, she was the Samuelson Clinic’s first fellow and an attorney with the Venture Law Group in Silicon Valley. She graduated from Cornell University with a B.A. in biological science (concentration in neurobiology and behavior) and from Berkeley Law with a J.D. (intellectual property certificate). She was the Annual Review of Law and Technology editor while a student at Berkeley Law, and received the Berkeley Center for Law and Technology Distinguished Alumni Award in 2003.
Education
B.A., Cornell University
J.D., Berkeley Law
Jennifer M Urban is teaching the following courses in Spring 2025:
• 285.9 sec. 001 - Samuelson Clinic Seminar
• 295.5T sec. 001 - Samuelson Clinic
• 295.5U sec. 001 - Advanced Samuelson Clinic
Courses During Other Semesters
| Semester | Course Num | Course Title |  Teaching Evaluations | Fall 2025 | 285.9 sec. 001 | Samuelson Clinic Seminar | 285.9B sec. 001 | Advanced Samuelson Clinic Seminar | 295.5T sec. 001 | Samuelson Clinic | 295.5U sec. 001 | Advanced Samuelson Clinic | Fall 2024 | 285.9 sec. 001 | Samuelson Clinic Seminar | View Teaching Evaluation | 295.5T sec. 001 | Samuelson Clinic | View Teaching Evaluation | Spring 2024 | 285.9 sec. 001 | Samuelson Clinic Seminar | View Teaching Evaluation | 295.5T sec. 001 | Samuelson Clinic | View Teaching Evaluation | 295.5U sec. 001 | Advanced Samuelson Clinic | View Teaching Evaluation |
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Deep Learning: How Berkeley Law Scholars and Programs Are at the Forefront on AI
Across the legal landscape, our faculty, students, research centers, and executive and Continuing Legal Education platforms are meeting the challenges of AI head on.
Internet Archive Court Loss Leaves Higher Ed in Gray Area
Professor Jennifer Urban, co-director of the Berkeley Center for Law and Technology discusses how university libraries’ lending programs differ from Internet Archive in that reader privacy is at the forefront.
Samuelson Clinic Students Work to Defend Library Patrons’ Right to Privacy
The Samuelson Law, Technology & Public Policy Clinic files an amicus brief explaining the importance of reader privacy in digital library lending.
Requiring in-person government meetings across California will only reduce public participation
“California’s government became more accessible during the pandemic,” writes Professor Jennifer M. Urban, director of the Samuelson Law, Technology & Public Policy Clinic, co-director of Berkeley Center for Law & Technology and chair of the California Privacy Protection Agency’s board. “The state has a chance to maintain and grow accessibility for the public and for those who serve the public on boards, bureaus and commissions – but it requires prompt action.”
Privacy Pick: Professor Jennifer Urban Gives UC Berkeley’s Annual Wheeler Society Lecture
Chair of the California Privacy Protection Agency, Urban illuminated the arc of privacy awareness — and importance — to Americans amid technology’s expanding reach.
How California is Building the Nation’s First Privacy Police
Professor Jennifer M. Urban, Director of Policy Initiatives at the Samuelson Law, Technology & Public Policy Clinic, and chair of the California Privacy Protection Agency’s board, discusses the opportunity the agency has to protect privacy and understand how that work interacts with all of the innovative technologies
Clinical Professor Jennifer Urban ’00 to Chair New California Privacy Protection Agency
A longtime leader in Berkeley Law’s tech-law clinic and center, Urban will help the innovative agency protect consumers’ privacy rights over their personal information.
New Calif. Privacy Board Poised To Balance Various Interests
Professor Jennifer M. Urban, Director of Policy Initiatives at the Samuelson Law, Technology & Public Policy Clinic, has been appointed chair of the new California Privacy Protection Agency board, tasked with enforcing the state’s landmark privacy law
Meet the Members of California’s New Privacy Board
Professor Jennifer M. Urban, Director of Policy Initiatives at the Samuelson Law, Technology & Public Policy Clinic, has been appointed chair of the new California Privacy Protection Agency board, tasked with enforcing the state’s landmark privacy law
New California privacy board includes academics, government and law firm alums
Professor Jennifer M. Urban, Director of Policy Initiatives at the Samuelson Law, Technology & Public Policy Clinic, is announced as the chair of the new California Privacy Protection Agency board, tasked with enforcing the state’s landmark privacy law
The People’s Jury Instructions: Samuelson Clinic Accelerates Its Push for Legal Access
Berkeley Law’s Samuelson Law, Technology & Public Policy Clinic prods California courts to remove copyright restrictions from the state’s jury instructions.
California nonprofit pushes states to make jury instructions more broadly available
Professor Jennifer M. Urban, Director of Policy Initiatives at the Samuelson Law, Technology & Public Policy Clinic, and clinic students Jennifer A. Hewitt and Blaine Valencia discuss their work on behalf of Public.Resource.Org to advocate for California to clarify that its civil and criminal jury instructions are in the public domain
Scattered But Not Distant
While COVID-19 brought in-person events to a screeching halt, Berkeley Law’s intellectual life has continued at full speed through a steady stream of timely online offerings. Other than brief pauses
No Easy Fix Seen for Digital Copyright Law Amid Content Flood
Professor Jennifer Urban explains why the push to strengthen the Digital Millennium Copyright Act could end up squelching online speech, how her research informs her thinking and advocates reformulating DMCA incentives
Virtual Vigor: Keeping Berkeley Law’s Intellectual Life Vibrant from a Distance
While students, faculty, and staff are scattered around the world, Berkeley Law has brought them together through a variety of online events—many focused on the pandemic and the implications of the death of George Floyd.
Pushing Toward Forensic Fairness
Research by professors Rebecca Wexler and Andrea Roth sparks a federal bill to help level the forensic evidence playing field.
Emma Day Links Children’s Rights and Technology at ‘Amazing’ LL.M. Program
A Fulbright Scholar and longtime children’s advocate, Day sees a huge opportunity to advance her work through Berkeley Law’s LL.M. thesis track program.
Clinic Urges Supreme Court to Give Library Patrons Full Access to the Law
Samuelson Law, Technology & Public Policy Clinic students urges the court to reject Georgia’s bid to claim copyright in its official annotated legal code.
Berkeley Law Duo Sparks Proposed Bill for More Forensic Algorithm Access
Scholars Rebecca Wexler and Andrea Roth prompt a California congressman to introduce a federal bill that would make the algorithms more transparent to criminal defendants.
Pioneering Samuelson Clinic Celebrates 15-year Anniversary
The Samuelson Law, Technology & Public Policy Clinic celebrates its 15th anniversary.