Maureen O’Rourke may be her own best example of where preparation and prescience can take technology-savvy lawyers. The dean of Boston University School of Law, O’Rourke was among the first to immerse herself in the crosscurrents of the Internet and copyright law. She literally co-wrote the book “Copyright in a Global Information Economy,” one of the leading U.S. casebooks on the subject.

O’Rourke began her career as an attorney at IBM Corp. in 1990, working on software licensing, before joining the BU Law faculty in 1993. She helped supervise the student-run “Journal of Science and Technology Law” and won the school’s highest teaching honor – the Metcalf Award – in 2000. She became the dean in 2006 after two years as interim dean.

Not surprisingly, she sets as an imperative ensuring that BU law students have “transferable skills and an entrepreneurial spirit” as technology torques the practice of law.

O’Rourke, who completed her legal studies at Yale Law School, was among the first deans to answer a series of questions that Lawdragon is asking all law school deans in the U.S. as part of our new website devoted to legal education, which is launching this month. Continue reading →