James Dempsey is a lecturer at UC Berkeley School of Law. He has been a leading expert on privacy and Internet policy for three decades. Mr. Dempsey was the Executive Director of the Berkeley Center for Law & Technology (BCLT) from 2014 through May, 2021.
Mr. Dempsey was appointed by President Obama in August 2012 to serve as a member of the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board (PCLOB). The PCLOB is an independent federal agency charged with advising senior policymakers and overseeing the nation’s counterterrorism programs. Mr. Dempsey served as a part-time member from 2012 through January 2017.
Prior to joining BCLT, Mr. Dempsey spent 18 years with the Center for Democracy and Technology (CDT), a nonprofit organization headquartered in Washington, DC, and served as its executive director from 2003 to 2005. He led the center’s Global Internet Policy Initiative, which worked with government officials, industry, and human rights organizations on Internet policy issues in developing and transitional countries. From 2005 to 2014, he was the head of CDT West. Before joining CDT, Mr. Dempsey served as Deputy Director of the non-profit Center for National Security Studies and Special Counsel to the National Security Archive. From 1985 to 1995, he was Assistant Counsel to the House Judiciary Committee's Subcommittee on Civil and Constitutional Rights. He practiced law as an associate at Arnold & Porter in Washington, DC, and clerked for Judge Robert Braucher of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court.
Degree(s):
J.D., Harvard University, 1979
B.A., Yale University, 1975