About the IAPP

Orly Lobel is a lawyer, academic and author who wrote the 2022 book “The Equality Machine: Harnessing Tomorrow’s Technologies for a Brighter, More Inclusive Future.” In it, she advocates for applying digital technology to important societal tasks such as detecting discrimination, correcting historical exclusions, and addressing challenges including climate change, poverty and literacy. 

Lobel is the Warren Distinguished Professor of Law, director of the Center for Employment and Labor Law, and founding member of the Center for Intellectual Property Law and Markets at the University of San Diego. In addition to “The Equality Machine,” she wrote the 2013 book “Talent Wants to Be Free,” an examination of nurturing innovation that the won the 2014 International Book Award for best business book. Lobel’s credits also include the TEDx talk “Secrets & Sparks” about the expansion of secrecy and intellectual property in contemporary markets. Her scholarship and research has received grants and awards from the American Bar Association, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, and the Searle-Kauffman Foundation. She is also a Fulbright scholarship winner. Lobel’s work has appeared in media including The New York Times, The Economist, Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, La Presse, The Australian, ABA Modern Law, National Law Journal, NPR, the Toronto Globe and Mail, and CNBC. 

Lobel earned law and master’s degrees from Harvard Law School and a Bachelor of Laws degree from Tel Aviv University. She is a member of the American Law Institute and served as a fellow at the Harvard University Center for Ethics and the Professions, the Kennedy School of Government, and the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs.