James Bessen
Executive Director, Technology & Policy Research Initiative, Lecturer in Law
James Bessen is a Lecturer in Law and Executive Director of the Technology & Policy Research Initiative at Boston University School of Law. Before entering academia, he was a software developer and CEO who created one of the first WYSIWYG desktop publishing programs. His data-driven research on how technology affects innovation, jobs, and competition has been cited by the U.S. Supreme Court, the White House, the European Parliament, and the Federal Trade Commission. He is the author of The New Goliaths and co-author of Patent Failure, and his work has been ranked among the top in global legal scholarship.
Teaching Style
Professor Bessen brings a unique perspective as both a former software CEO and an economist, grounding his teaching in real-world technology industry experience. His approach is more discussion-oriented than traditional Socratic, encouraging students to analyze how technology and software systems reshape market competition, labor markets, and regulatory frameworks. He uses data, case studies, and industry examples extensively, and expects students to engage with empirical evidence about how technology affects legal and economic outcomes.
Cold Call Tips
- 1Familiarize yourself with the empirical research on how technology affects industry concentration and wages
- 2Be prepared to discuss concrete examples of how software and automation are changing specific industries
- 3Understand the patent system's strengths and weaknesses from an economic perspective
- 4Think about how existing legal frameworks do or do not adequately address challenges posed by emerging technologies
Areas of Expertise
Education
- A.B., Harvard University
Notable Publications
- The New Goliaths: How Corporations Use Software to Dominate Industries, Kill Innovation, and Undermine Regulation (Yale University Press, 2022)
- Patent Failure: How Judges, Bureaucrats, and Lawyers Put Innovators at Risk (co-authored with Michael Meurer)
- Learning by Doing: The Real Connection Between Innovation, Wages, and Wealth (2015)