Faculty Spotlight: Professor Brenda Simon

Brenda Simon, ProFlowers Professor of Internet Studies, brings her lifelong passion for analytical thinking to everything she does—whether it’s studying how AI will affect the future of patent law or how she can help her students pass the bar the first time. Professor Simon's thoughtfulness and care enrich the California Western community and the legal community at large. She sat down with us to share how she went from a clutzy chemistry major to a leading expert in the field of intellectual property law, and the natural optimism that drives her research and teaching-- “to try to exert influence toward a more positive future.”

Did you dream of delving into the field of intellectual property and becoming a professor when you were growing up? 

I always knew I wanted to become a lawyer, but I didn’t discover IP until I was a law student at Berkeley. When I was in my second year, I had an incredible professor. He was both brilliant and able to bring cases to life. He showed me how studying law could be fun and meaningful at the same time. It wasn’t until his class that I could imagine what I might want to do with my law degree.  
 
I don't have any professors in my family, so this was not a world I was familiar with at all. The inspiration to become a professor came quite a while after I graduated law school. I had been practicing patent law for several years, and I reconnected with the professor whose course had inspired me to pursue intellectual property law. He mentioned an opportunity to serve as a teaching fellow at Stanford. I was hooked after teaching my first class!  
 
I feel so fortunate that I found a profession that is such a great fit for me—learning about new tech, applying analytical skills, and being part of a wonderful law school community. 
 
Can you talk about your education—you studied Chemistry at UCLA, so has science always been a passion? What inspired the shift to law? 
 
I have a lot of different interests, but I’ve always enjoyed learning about science and new technologies. Chemistry felt like a game for me, which helped when I was trying to memorize structures and formulas. The labs were a challenge because I am klutzy, which does not mix well with Bunsen burners and acids.  
 
When I was an undergrad, I took a course about sociological research. The professor placed each student in a location to see how people cope with stress. I was placed in the DA’s office in downtown LA in the sex crimes division, which was extremely difficult but very rewarding as well. Through this first-hand exposure to the law, I saw how I might combine analytical reasoning with science—and not be stuck in a lab.  
 
What were the rewards and challenges of practicing intellectual property law in the Silicon Valley? 
 
Working in the Bay Area was such an incredible way to start my career. The best part was working on cutting edge technology. I had clients who were established innovators and others that were small start-up companies. Some of my clients included Google, Amazon, Apple—innovative companies with brilliant people who are inventing the future. I also loved working with smaller start-ups because I would get to take on an important role, like taking the deposition of the plaintiff’s CEO.  
 
I also really enjoyed representing pro bono clients. I had the opportunity to work on a case on behalf of a man in prison who had patented a toothbrush. He had brought a claim of patent infringement against a major company that used his invention, but the case was decided against him on summary judgment. We were able to get the decision reversed on appeal. He was eventually released from prison and then started manufacturing boots. He sent our whole team custom made leather boots as a thank you.  
 
The main challenge with working at a large firm in the Silicon Valley is that it is just so intense. It’s hard to find time to exercise, sleep, or do anything but work. One of my co-workers described it as a pie-eating contest where the prize is more pie.  
 
In your latest article, “Artificial Intelligence and the Self-Represented Inventor,” you address how AI can be both a boon to self-represented inventors (especially women and people of color) and can also be a hindrance to them in the form of algorithmic bias in the Patent Office’s systems. What do you think is most important to keep front of mind in terms of the intersections between AI, the law, and justice? 
 
This is such an exciting and evolving area. What makes it special is that attorneys and law students can shape how technology and the law develop. It’s an interesting situation because we are both the subject of these technologies and their creators. We generate the data that AI uses. So, everyone has a stake in how AI is regulated and used.  
 
We already have a two-tier system: the tech industry has proprietary AI that is more robust, less likely to have errors, and respects confidentiality. What is the quality of the AI we get access to? Is our data confidential? What data is being used to train the AI? What biases are inherent to technology that we don’t even realize?  
 
My article is trying to tackle is how AI can potentially create a more even playing field for self-represented inventors and how the Patent Office can help inventors who are more resource-constrained to secure patents. Big firms that have better resources—including the highest quality AI—can file more patents more quickly and end up foreclosing unrepresented inventors.  
 
Unfortunately, this is something that is endemic to legal practice—better resourced individuals have better outcomes. The overwhelming majority of Americans with low-incomes—upward of 90%—don’t have access to legal representation. In some circumstances, AI might be able to help bridge that divide. My article also calls for the Patent Office to expand its pro bono program and to support law school clinics with AI, so they can serve more inventors.  
 
I am passionate about this work, imagining the future, trying to help things develop in a way that is constructive and minimizes harm—that's why so much of my research looks at issues related to access: Who gets access to technology and who doesn’t? And what does that mean from a broader justice perspective? Who gets left behind and what does that mean for society? What can we do to mitigate these disparities? These questions are becoming more pronounced as tech becomes more powerful.  
 
What is your approach to teaching? What do you find most gratifying in working with California Western students? 
 
My primary goals are to excite students about the law and to help them prepare for the bar. I want to make sure they have the tools they need to pass the first time. I try to put myself back into the mindset of a law student again. I remind myself how foreign everything was to me when I got to law school. I had been a science major, so law school was a huge shock, a totally different way of learning. I think back to those days and ask, Why were things confusing for me? How did I go from being lost to understanding what was going on? Then, I think about how to break down concepts into the simplest, most understandable way of learning them—for example, a specific strategy for attacking problems. And I always try to make it interesting with real world examples, and lots of practice problems for students to apply what they’ve learned.  
 
What is most gratifying about working with California Western students is how engaged, passionate, and determined they are. Some of them remind me of my parents. My mother fled persecution as a child—her family was very poor. After my brother and I were born, she went back to school and took classes to get her college degree. My father’s family faced financial challenges. When I was a child, he went to law school at night while working full-time. So, I see in my students that strength to overcome hardships and to make the most of their education, for themselves and for their families.  
 
What are your favorite subjects within property to teach?  
 
The most interesting subject for me is adverse possession. It is an idea that seems so bizarre: if you make use of property long enough and the owner doesn’t do anything, you can become the owner. In other words, someone who starts off as a trespasser can become the owner of property. Although it seems odd, there are good reasons for the law—we want people to make good use of land, we don’t want abandoned lots, we want people to take care of their property. But it is so surprising how that law works.

The other topic that is important for me and very engaging for students is zoning, because it is such a key factor in the systemic injustice in our society. We see it in judicial bias against people who are not living in single-family homes and in the afflictions that befall communities—usually of color—that are a direct result of discriminatory practices in zoning.  
 

You are helping to shape CWSL’s Law, Justice, and Technology Initiative (LJTI). What are some of the goals for the LJTI that you are focused on? 
 
We want to highlight critical issues in this space and to enrich the educational and professional experience of our students—and of the broader community. We want to shed light on injustices in this rapidly developing area and to help students address and anticipate issues, such as bias, inaccuracies, and privacy harms.  
 
We want to bring in leaders in the field for conferences and speaking opportunities, help students network, and enhance our course offerings, so that students have the knowledge and experience to make a difference in this space.  
 
What’s your favorite piece of tech?  
 
There are so many incredible examples. Where we are today with technology was all science fiction not that long ago: to be able to talk to someone on a watch, to have super computers that can crunch incredible amounts of data. We can now use AI to predict the shape of proteins—that was unfathomable five years ago. 
 
On a personal level, I have a love/hate relationship with my smart phone. I love the Google Translate and Google Maps Apps for travel. I visited Japan for the first time last month, and I was so impressed by how much I could do on my own. I could take a picture of a menu and have it instantly translated. I could navigate the subway system with it and Google Maps. I felt confident independently exploring and engaging with this world that otherwise would have been lost in translation or seen from the perspective of an artificial tour. These technologies can help broaden our interactions with the world and with other people—we can layer tech into our lives and actually cut across divides and connect better with others.   
 
That said, it is essential to put boundaries on our use of technology. I think we can appreciate advances the most if they’re not constantly at our fingertips. I build in a day a week to turn off all my technology, take a step back, and connect with nature, friends, and family. I sometimes think about a quote from Thoreau, who said, “We do not ride on the railroad; it rides on us.” We give up a lot with technology—privacy, attention, environmental impact. And it’s very alluring, so we must make a conscious decision to unplug and to find content that broadens our minds, as opposed to what’s just fed to us.  
 
What are three recommendations (apps, media, books) you’d give to the CWSL community?  
 
First, I really like Headspace, which is a meditation app created by a monk. It’s an incredible tool to help with focus and navigate the complexities of life.  
 
Next, a fascinating book is Why We Sleep by Matthew Walker. It provides a wealth of scientific studies about sleep and how much of a priority it is for learning, memory, and overall well-being.  
 
Finally, my Property students often hear me refer to The Checklist Manifesto by Atul Gawande. The author is a surgeon. He talks about how we have all this cutting-edge (no pun intended!) technology in operating rooms, but a lot of people don’t make it through surgery because surgeons forget to do something really simple—like wash their hands! He found that the simple tool of using a checklist significantly reduced mortality rates. I often mention this to students—make a checklist of topics for an essay, so you don’t skip over anything. Having a checklist might help you do better in a class, pass the bar, or even save a life.