W&L Alumnus Chris Wolf ‘80L Elected to American Law Institute
Christopher Wolf, of the Law Class of 1980, has been elected to the American Law Institute, the most prestigious law reform body in the U.S.
MSNBC has called Washington and Lee law alumnus Christopher Wolf, of the Class of 1980, “a pioneer in Internet law” based on his early involvement in legal cases involving technology agreements, copyright, domain names, jurisdiction and, perhaps most of all, privacy.
A partner in the Washington, D.C., office of Hogan Lovells, Chris leads the firm’s privacy practice group. He also is founder and co-chair of the Future of Privacy Forum, a think tank “that seeks to advance responsible data practices” that has become a leading platform for discussion and development of best practices.
He was the editor and lead author of the first PLI treatise on privacy law and is a frequent author and speaker on privacy and data security issues. He was the first privacy lawyer to testify before the Senate Judiciary Privacy Subcommittee, the only privacy lawyer to speak at the 2011 eG8 Conference in Paris, and he is a member of a group advising the OECD (the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) on its privacy guidelines.
The American Law Institute (ALI) is focused on producing scholarly work to clarify, modernize, and otherwise improve the law. It has a membership 4300 judges, lawyers, and teachers from all areas of the U.S. and many foreign companies.
Among its projects, the ALI publishes restatements of basic legal subjects to inform the legal profession of what the law is, or should be, in a particular subject. One such restatement, focused on the law of restitution and unjust enrichment, was the focus of a symposium hosted by W&L Law.
New ALI members are selected based on professional achievement and demonstrated interest in improving the law. A number of W&L Law faculty also are members of the ALI, including professors Doug Rendleman, Rick Kirgis, Margaret Howard, Tim Jost, Lyman Johnson, Brian Murchison, Scott Sundby, Robin Wilson, Erik Luna, and Dean Nora Demleitner.
Wolf is a cum laude graduate of Bowdoin College, and graduated magna cum laude, Order of the Coif from W&L Law. He also participated in the General Course at the London School of Economics. Following law school, he clerked for U.S. District Judge Aubrey E. Robinson, Jr. in Washington, D.C.
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