(If you are looking to use this bio for a conference listing or the like, just remove lines from the end until you get the length for which you are looking.)
Neil Brown is an independent academic lawyer, exploring the overlaps of law, technology and society. He has particular expertise in Internet and communications regulation and policy, privacy and security, and alternative intellectual property strategies promoting the sharing of knowledge.
Neil takes a grounded and yet innovative, practical approach to complex questions of law and technology, and has a sound technical and practical knowledge in a wide range of fields relating to communications and digital technology. He enjoys speaking, teaching and presenting, and often entertains both technical and legal audiences.
"Out of all the brilliant lawyers I have worked with ... this was the best experience. [Neil] was extremely clear and efficient and we had the matter tied up within a week."
"In the relationship with Neil Brown we had not only a first rate legal support but an individual whose comments and enthusiasm for our project really gave us inspiration."
"very responsive, expert, and easy to deal with..."
"an inspirational speaker" — "a BRILLIANT talk" — "a natural and gifted presenter"
"I think the UK broadband community should be most grateful to you"
The Earl of Erroll, March 2010, in respect of Neil's work on the Digital Economy Act 2010.
"[Y]ou constantly amaze me as a source of knowledge on the GPL."
"Very good. The best pro bono lawyer we have worked with so far. The matter was resolved very quickly..."
"You are just the best — you make everything so clear"
I enjoy helping those who might otherwise be unable to obtain legal advice, primarily through LawWorks. I also commit time to gpl-violations.org and the Free Software Foundation Europe's Freedom Task Force.
My academic work is independent; I am not affiliated to any institution, and do not receive any funding. My LLM is taught through the University of Southampton's excellent school of law.
I work four days a week for Vodafone, as a specialist lawyer advising on communications regulation, privacy, security, and geeky Internet / technology law, but Vodafone does not pay me for my academic work; equally, the opinions on this site, and in my writing, are mine. If you want Vodafone's view on something, please visit its website.