Orly Lobel
Asya Bernal
asyabernal@SanDiego.edu
(619) 260-2320
Warren Distinguished Professor of Law; Director, Center for Employment and Labor Policy
- SJD 2006, Harvard University
- LLM 2000, Harvard University
- LLB 1998, Tel Aviv University
Areas of Expertise
Intellectual Property, Employment and Labor Law, Tech Policy, Artificial Intelligence & the Law, Innovation and Human Capital, Equality & Discrimination
Professional Experience
Orly Lobel is the Warren Distinguished Professor of Law, and the founding director of the Center for Employment and Labor Policy (CELP) at University of San Diego. She is the award-winning author of best-selling books and numerous high-impact articles. A graduate of Tel-Aviv University and Harvard Law School, Lobel clerked on the Israeli Supreme Court and is a member of the American Law Institute. She has recently been named as one of the most cited legal scholars in in law and technology and in employment law and overall one of the most cited younger legal scholars in the United States. She has received several grants for her scholarship including most recently a grant from the AI and Humanities Project. Lobel served on President Obama’s policy team on innovation and labor market competition, advised the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), the American Conference of the United States (ACUS) and the Government Accountability Office (GAO) and other federal and state agencies on tech policy. Lobel consults private tech leaders on competition, human capital, equality, innovation, labor markets, and tech policy. Lobel is a prolific speaker, consultant, expert witness, commentator, and a thought leader who travels the world with an impact on policy and industry. In 2023, she keynoted the United Nations AI for Good Summit in Geneva. She is a beloved teacher and mentor and has been recognized by her students as a Woman of Impact and a Woman of Valor. She is regularly quoted in the media and her work has been featured in top media including the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, Sunday Times, Time Magazine, The New Yorker, Forbes, and the Harvard Business Review.
Her books You Don’t Own Me: How Mattel v. MGA Entertainment Exposed Barbie’s Dark Side (Norton) and Talent Wants to Be Free: Why We Should Learn to Love Leaks, Raids and Free Riding (Yale University Press) are the recipient of several prestigious awards and have been reviewed in top scholarly journals and media. Her new book The Equality Machine: Harnessing Tomorrow’s Technologies for a Brighter, More Inclusive Future (PublicAffairs) has received rave reviews and was named by The Economist Best Book of 2022 (“brilliant”). Science Magazine calls the book “masterful” and Kirkus describes The Equality Machine, “a compelling, hopeful, enthusiastic yet measured argument for technology’s potential to promote equality across many facets of culture and industry.”
Honors and Affiliations
Lobel is the recipient of several prestigious research grants from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the American Bar Association litigation Fund, the Searle-Kauffman Fellowship, the Southern California Innovation Project, and Netspar, University of Tilburg. She is a member of the American Law Institute and serves on the advisory boards of the San Diego Lawyer Chapter of the American Constitution Society, the Employee Rights Center, and the Oxford Handbook on Governance. Her articles have won several awards including the Thorsnes Prize for Outstanding Legal Scholarship and the Irving Oberman Memorial Award. Lobel is a frequent speaker at universities throughout Asia, Europe and North America. She was USD's Herzog Endowed Scholar for the 2012-13 academic year. Lobel was the 2013-14 recipient of USD’s Thorsnes Prize for Outstanding Legal Scholarship. In 2022-2023, she was awarded for the second time a University Professorship. Most recently, she is the recipient of the AI and Humanities Grant. Lobel serves on the advisory board for the Future of Privacy Forum.
Scholarly Work
- Banning Noncompetes is Good for Innovation, Harvard Business Review (2023) (with Mark Lemley)
- The Law of AI for Good, 75 Florida Law Review 1073 (2023)
- The Equality Machine: Harnessing Digital Technology for a Brighter More Inclusive Future (Public Affairs 2022)
- Biopolitical Opportunities: Between Datafication and Governance, 96 Notre Dame Law Review Reflection 181 (2021)
- Boilerplate Collusion: Clause Aggregation, Antitrust Law & Contract Governance, 106 Minnesota Law Review 877 (2021)
- Should Noncompete Clauses for Executives Be Legal? No: They Reduce Wages and Job Mobility, Wall Street Journal (2021)
- Exit, Voice & Innovation, 57 Houston Law Review 781 (2020)
- Gentlemen Prefer Bonds: How Employers Fix the Talent Market, 59 Santa Clara Law Review 663 (2020)
- Knowledge Pays: Reversing Information Flows & The Future of Pay Equity, 120 Columbia Law Review 547 (2020)
- Non-Competes, Human Capital Policy & Regional Competition, 45 Journal of Corporation Law 931 (2020)
- We Are All Gig Workers Now: Online Platforms, Freelancers and The Battles Over Employment Status and Rights During the COVID-19 Pandemic, 57 San Diego Law Review 919 (2020)
- Employment Law (6th ed., Thomson Reuters 2019) (with Rothstein et al.)
- The Goldilocks Path of Legal Scholarship in a Digital Networked World, 50 Loyola University Chicago Law Journal 403 (2019)
- Coase & the Platform Economy, in The Cambridge Handbook of the Sharing Economy (Nestor Davidson, Michele Finck & John Infranca eds., Cambridge University Press 2018)
- Platform Market Power, 32 Berkeley Technology Law Journal 1051 (2018) (with Bamberger)
- You Don't Own Me: How Mattel v. MGA Entertainment Exposed Barbie's Dark Side (W.W. Norton and Company 2017)