Joel R. Reidenberg is greatly missed by the Data & Society community since his passing in April 2020. Joel was an advisor to Data & Society since we began, and we are so grateful for all his mentorship, advice, and encouragement.

Reidenberg was Fordham University’s Stanley D. and Nikki Waxberg Chair in Law and the founder of the Center on Law and Information Policy and served as the inaugural Microsoft Visiting Professor of Information Technology Policy at Princeton University. Reidenberg also previously taught at the Universite de Paris-Sorbonne and the Institut d’etudes Politques de Paris, served as the Associate Vice President for Academic Affairs and Associate Chief Academic Officer of Fordham University, and was the President of the University’s Faculty Senate.

Reidenberg was an expert on information technology law and policy. His scholarship has appeared in leading law journals including the Emory Law Journal, Hastings Law Journal, Houston Law Review, Stanford Law Review, Texas Law Review, the University of Pennsylvania Law Review and the Wake Forest Law Review. Outside the United States, his work has also been published widely in Europe.

Professor Reidenberg was a member of the American Law Institute and was an adviser to the ALI’s Restatement (Third) of Privacy Principles. He testified frequently before the U.S. Congress on data privacy issues, served as a consultant to both the Federal Trade Commission and the European Commission, served as a Special Assistant Attorney General for the State of Washington in connection with privacy litigation, and served as an expert on intellectual property for the World Intellectual Property Organization. He also chaired the Section on Defamation and Privacy of the Association of American Law Schools and was the chair of the association’s Section on Law and Computers.

Prior to joining the Fordham law faculty, Reidenberg practiced law in Washington, DC with the international telecommunications group of the firm Debevoise & Plimpton and also served as a member of several Advisory Panels for the U.S. Congress Office of Technology Assessment.