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Charles Nesson

William F. Weld Professor of Law, Harvard Law School, Founder and Director, Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society

Charles R. Nesson is the William F. Weld Professor of Law at Harvard Law School, Founder of the Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society, and Principal Investigator of BKC’s Nymity project. Nesson also leads a research team working on prison reform initiatives in Jamaica and is working on compiling a sourcebook of teaching materials related to the radical ideal of American Jury, in which ordinary citizens are empowered to decide issues of justice.

Professor Nesson joined the faculty at Harvard Law School in 1966 after serving as a law clerk to Supreme Court Justice John Marshall Harlan II and as a Special Assistant to John Doar, head of the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division. He and Leonard Boudin successfully defended Daniel Elsberg in the Pentagon Papers case. Nesson was also co-counsel for the plaintiffs in the case against W. R. Grace and Company that was made into the book & film A Civil Action. He served as a moderator on the popular PBS program, Fred Friendly Seminars, in which the moderator leads prominent guests through a Socratic-style dialogue on an issue of society-wide concern.

Nesson’s teaching and research focus on evidence law and the Sixth Amendment, with a particular focus on the Confrontation Clause and the potential injustices of peremptory challenges. Nesson has long been an advocate for using poker as a means of teaching strategy, risk assessment, and assertiveness.

He lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts with his wife, Fern, and their dog, Sweet Pea.

 


Projects & Tools

Nymity

The Nymity project posits the utility of pseudonymous, text-based communication platforms in promoting civil discourse within closed-network environments. Our approach is inspired…

Past

Berkman Online Lecture and Discussion (BOLD) Series

We offer computer-mediated seminars through our interactive Berkman Online Lecture and Discussion (BOLD) series. Topics have included intellectual property and privacy on the…

Digital Media Project (DMP)

The goal of the Digital Media Project is not to advance a simple agenda but instead to help educate stakeholders – government officials, the media, artists, businesspeople, and…

Past

Internet Law Program (iLaw)

Taught by world-renowned experts in the field, the Berkman Klein Center’s Internet Law Program addresses the most pressing cyberlaw issues being debated by lawmakers in the U.S…

Past

Jamaica Project

True to the Berkman Klein Center’s expansive interest in the interaction between internet and society, the Jamaica project’s mission centers on the use of the internet to shape,…

Past

Mindsport Research Network

The Mindsport Research Network aims to build multiple experimental frameworks for understanding human strategic thinking in mind sports. Research will extend not only to…

Nymspace

Nymspace is a Learning Tools Interoperability (LTI) tool developed to provide a pseudonymous, forum-like experience for groups to come together for meaningful discussions.

Past

Open ePolicy Group

We formed the Open ePolicy Group in February 2005 with members from every region of the world to share insights from governments, companies and organizations at the forefront of…

Openlaw

[Berkman Project 2001-2002] Openlaw is an experiment in crafting legal argument in an open forum.

The Bridge

The Bridge is divided into two major parts: a six-unit series on legal reasoning, and a series of modules on American Legal Theory, divided into six "tracks" representing…

Past

The Judicial Gatekeeping Project

The seminar's focus is on the "gate-keeping" role of judges. Ever since the United States Supreme Court’s decision in Daubert v. Richardson Merrill-Dow in 1993, questions have…


Publications

May 23, 2004

Amicus Brief: Capitol et al v. Noor Alaujan

For the foregoing reasons, amici suggest that the Court to exercise caution in regard to any aggregate treatment of Defendants and to consider reduced awards in light of the…

May 20, 1999

Open Code / Open Content / Open Law: Building a Digital Commons

Strategic Planning Session Paper

The Berkman Center proposed the formation of a legally independent nonprofit entity - a consortium of educational centers to foster the development of open software, open research…

Apr 1, 1997

Borders in Cyberspace: Information Policy and the Global Information Infrastructure

The contributors to this collection of essays wrestle with the emerging questions posed by a medium that defies national boundaries in ways previously unknown and woefully…


News

Feb 18, 2018

John Perry Barlow and the Foundational Values of the Net

an interview with Charles Nesson

Berkman Klein Center Founder and Director Charles Nesson shares his thoughts on how John Perry Barlow helped build the values of the Internet.

Sep 10, 2015

Spotlight on the Berkman Question Tool

A simple web tool spurs discussion and buy-in

The Berkman Center for Internet & Society has taken the best of online forums and crowdsourcing to offer a simple web tool for online or blended discussion. The Berkman Question…

Aug 22, 2015

Let's make a Boston-led discussion on the future of global sport the legacy of Boston's 2024 Olympic bid.

by Charles Nesson

Boston's Olympic bid spurred a remarkable community deliberation. It gave us a chance to talk about our visions for sports and the city. The discussions were exciting, and we felt…

Jan 15, 2013

Symposium at HLS marks launch of global network of interdisciplinary centers focused on the Internet and society

On Dec. 6-8, 2012, the Berkman Center for Internet & Society, together with seven international co-organizers, hosted a symposium at Harvard Law School titled Internet-Driven…

Nov 14, 2011

John Palfrey's Next Chapter: Onward to the Phillips Academy!

The directors of the Berkman Center wish to extend our warmest congratulations to John Palfrey, our colleague and friend, upon his appointment as the Head of School of the…

Sep 24, 2010

Radio Berkman 164: The University in Cyberspace

This week on Radio Berkman: Charles Nesson reprises June's COMMUNIA conference, "Reshaping Knowledge Institutions for the Networked Age," and muses University's future, with David…

Feb 11, 2009

Happy birthday, eon!

Today, Berkman Center Founder, Faculty Co-Director, and Harvard Law Professor Charles Nesson turns 70!

Nov 18, 2008

Nesson, CyberOne, and the RIAA

Berkman Center founder Charles Nesson and his CyberOne class are moving forward with their case against the RIAA...

Apr 11, 2008

John Perry Barlow looking back on an Internet decade

Find your headphones and grab a seat, maybe skip the popcorn this week. As part of the Berkman Center’s ongoing tenth anniversary celebration, Berkman@10, we’re retrieving some…

Apr 4, 2008

Charles Nesson advances University in a Google world

Find a comfortable chair and pop the corn. As part of the Berkman Center’s ongoing tenth anniversary celebration, Berkman@10, we’re retrieving some classics from our multimedia…


Community

Duke Law & Technology Review

The Past and Future of the Internet

BKC community members contribute to Symposium for John Perry Barlow

Aug 12, 2019
Make Chevron Clean Up

Charles Nesson Joins Attorney and HLS Alumnus' Challenge Against Chevron

Charles Nesson is one of three prominent lawyers rallying behind a human rights attorney's challenge against Chevron

Mar 11, 2019

Courses

JuryX Workshop - Winter 2024

Ideal Discourse JuryX is a workshop in which the ideal is both subject of study and objective in execution, played out with collective attention substance, form and frame of…

Trial by Jury - Fall 2023

Our class will begin by articulating the original role of the American jury in our system of criminal adjudication: a sovereign body which stands between the government and a…

Deliberation - Fall 2023

This course offers an innovative and immersive experience in which students will explore the fundamental question of whether we, as individuals and society as a whole, are…

Writing Group: The American Jury - Fall 2023 - Spring 2024

For more information visit the Harvard Law School Course Catalog.

We the Jury: Deliberation and Justice - Fall 2022

Charles R. Nesson (Harvard Law School) Rebecca N. Nesson (John A. Paulson School Of Engineering And Applied Sciences) Freshman Seminar 72T 4…

Writing Group: The American Jury - Fall 2022

For more information visit the Harvard Law School Course Catalog. 

Justice for Lawyers - Fall 2022

Lawyers for justice at times confront injustice from judges. Throughout American history, powerful entities–public and private–have on occasion directed their efforts toward…

Advanced Topics in Evidence - Fall 2020

Professor Charles Nesson We consider legal truth from jury view: proof by live witness, proof by expert, and…

Advanced Topics in Evidence - Fall 2019

Professor Charles Nesson The epistemology of legal, scientific, and political truth. We…

Fair Trial - Fall 2019

Professor Charles Nesson Fair trial teaches the fundamentals of the Sixth Amendment, the…

Advanced Topics in Evidence - Fall 2018

The epistemology of legal, scientific, and political truth. We will consider proof by witness, proof by expert, proof by statistics and CSI, and the relationship of truth to…

Advanced Topics in Evidence - Spring 2018

The epistemology of legal, scientific, and political truth. We will consider proof by witness, proof by expert, proof by statistics and CSI, and the relationship of truth to…

JuryX Workshop - Winter 2018

The class will consider issues of law, race, class and gender. You will explore the concept of jury in both theory and practice.

Fair Trial - Spring 2018

No jury exists without bias or context. The American jury is designed as a “black box” that we push facts into and expect a fair decision from. But what makes a trial, and thus a…

Human and Community Rights: Pursuing Justice for Indigenous People - Fall 2017 - Spring 2018

How can an indigenous group successfully assert legal and human rights nationally and internationally? From intellectual and real property to religious and cultural claims, this…

Fair Trial - Spring 2016

We begin with the concept of justice -- both substantive and procedural. We ground our discussions in the The Bill of Rights -- in its concepts of liberty, freedom, public domain,…

JuryX: Deliberations for Social Change - Winter 2016

The class will consider campus issues of law, race, class and gender. You will explore the concept of jury in both theory and practice. You will learn about the jury in political…

American Jury – Fall 2014

With mythic origins in Magna Carta, a history intimately connected with struggles for liberty, cornerstone of constitutions of the states and United States of America, the…

Internet and Society – Fall 2014

Our class will engage in understanding and building a public realm in cyberspace. Dedicated to the memory of Aaron Swartz, we will consider the history of the Internet, its…

American Jury - Fall 2013

Our class will engage the jury as history and practice. We will find it sick, institutionally speaking, weakened by racism wrapped in legalism, and urgently in need of competent…

Internet and Society - Fall 2013

Our class will engage in understanding and building a public realm in cyberspace. Dedicated to the memory of Aaron Swartz, we will consider the history of the Internet, its…

Evidence - Spring 2013

This course examines basic rules and principles of evidence law. It focuses on American federal law (the Federal Rules of Evidence and cases interpreting them) but also covers…

American Jury (The) - Spring 2013

This class will engage the American Jury as history and practice.

Evidence - Fall 2012

This course examines basic rules and principles of evidence law. It focuses on American federal law (the Federal Rules of Evidence and cases interpreting them) but also covers…

Evidence - Spring 2012

Following the arc of the Federal Rules of Evidence, we explore the nature of legal proof and persuasion in the context of the American jury trial.

The American Jury - Spring 2012

Our class will engage the jury as history and practice.

Evidence - Fall 2011

Following the arc of the Federal Rules of Evidence, we explore the nature of legal proof and persuasion in the context of the American jury trial.

Public Domain and the American Ideal: Reading Group - Fall 2011

In this reading group we will study two aspects of online liberty.

Evidence - Spring 2011

Following the arc of the Federal Rules of Evidence, we explore the nature of legal proof and persuasion in the context of the American jury trial.

The American Jury - Spring 2011

Our class will engage the jury as history and practice.

The American Jury - Spring 2010

With mythic origins in Magna Carta, a history intimately connected with historic struggles for liberty, cornerstone of constitutions of the states and United States of America,…

Evidence - Winter 2010

Nesson's Winter Evidence takes you on an exploration of the nature of legal proof and persuasion in the context of an American jury trial.

The American Jury - Spring 2009

Our class will engage the American Jury both as history and living institution, sick and in need.

Evidence - Winter 2009

Nesson's Winter Evidence takes you on an exploration of the nature of legal proof and persuasion in the context of an American jury trial.

Course

CyberOne: Law in the Court of Public Opinion - Fall 2008

This year's Cyberone will begin with empathic argument and programming from scratch, then segue immediately to projects.

Freedom: Seminar - Spring 2008

This seminar will ask the ultimately unanswerable questions about the nature of freedom and how we handle it.

Evidence - Winter 2008

We study the process and law of proof in American jury trial. Within that frame, we explore the nature of truth, perception, memory, credibility, clarity, relevance, prejudice,…

Trials in Second Life: Seminar - Fall 2007

In this seminar we will do mock trials in Second Life.

CyberOne: Law in the Court of Public Opinion - Fall 2007

This year's Cyberone will begin with empathic argument and programming from scratch, then segue immediately to projects.

Evidence - Winter 2007

Evidence--the law, logic, philosophy and practice of argument and proof as instruments of dispute resolution. What are the functions and limitations of trial? How does our trial…

CyberOne: Law in the Court of Public Opinion - Fall 2006

This year's Cyberone will begin with empathic argument and programming from scratch, then segue immediately to projects. Projects will include furthering work already ongoing, as…

CyberStrategy: Law and Emotion: Reading Group - Fall 2006

Urs and I are interested in identifying and discussing both analytical and constructive principles that might be derived fro+m various bodies of knowledge, including knowledge…

Digital Democracy - Fall 2003

Over the past 15 years, digital information and communication networks have spread rapidly across the globe, bringing with them hopes for, and claims of, fundamental change in the…

Internet Law 2003: Program of Instruction for Lawyers

The Internet is maturing. With it, the laws and the norms that surround the use of Internet technologies have less of an edgy feel than they did just a few years ago. Yet much of…

Counsel to the Internet Client: Practical Advice, Strategy and Litigation - Fall 2001

This semester, we will explore the nuts and bolts of advising and defending Internet-related businesses, organizations and individuals. With the help of practicing cyberlawyers…

The Exploding Internet - Spring 2000

The Exploding Internet - Spring 2000

The Exploding Internet: Building A Global Commons in Cyberspace - Summer 2000

The Exploding Internet: Building A Global Commons in Cyberspace - Summer 2000

Evidence - Winter 1999

Evidence-Truth-Internet: January 1999

Evidence - Winter 1998

Evidence - Winter 1998

Torts - Fall 1997

Torts - Fall 1997

Business and the Internet: Strategy, Law, and Policy - Spring 1997

This graduate seminar is jointly presented by the Schools of Business, Government, and Law. By exploring specific firms or industries we will examine strategic choices that…

Law, Internet & Society - Fall 1996

Law, Internet & Society - Fall 1996

Torts - Fall 1996

Torts - Fall 1996


Events

Jun 1, 2020 @ 12:00 AM

The Ideas of John Perry Barlow in Uncertain Times

Charlie Nesson, founder of the Berkman Klein Center and Jonathan Vincent Pace, the first person to work with the John Perry Barlow archive at Stanford University, join in a…

Event
Feb 28, 2017 @ 12:00 PM

Five Global Challenges and the Role of University

Berkman Faculty Associate, Juan Carlos De Martin with Berkman Klein founder, Charlie Nesson

Five global, complex, interrelated and to some extent unprecedented challenges: in the coming years what can universities do to support society in addressing them?

Nov 20, 2013 @ 7:00 PM

When to Blow the Whistle? A discussion on the role of whistleblowers in society

Hosted by the Allston Ed Portal, Charlie Nesson, and the Berkman Center for Internet & Society

Snowden, Manning, Assange, Ellsberg — the whistleblower — When is that you? When in your life might you be tempted to blow the whistle?

Dec 5, 2011 @ 6:00 PM

The Fate of Civic Education in a Connected World

A "Fred Friendly" Seminar

Civic education is the cultivation of knowledge and traits that sustain democratic self-governance. The broad agreement that civic education is important disintegrates under close…

Sep 6, 2011 @ 6:30 PM

[September 6] Berkman Center Fall 2011 Open House

Come to the Berkman Center for Internet & Society’s Open House to meet our faculty, fellows, and staff, and to learn about the many ways you can get involved in our dynamic,…

May 17, 2011 @ 12:30 PM

The Post-Humboldtian University: Re-thinking the University's Role in Society in the Network Age

Juan Carlos de Martin, Co-Founder and Co-Director of the NEXA Center for Internet & Society at Politecnico di Torino & Charles Nesson, Berkman Center for Internet & Society

Juan Carlos de Martin, Co-Founder and Co-Director of the NEXA Center for Internet & Society at Politecnico di Torino, will speak at the Berkman Center Luncheon Series: How should…

Sep 7, 2010 @ 6:00 PM

Berkman Center Fall 2010 Open House

Come to our Open House to meet Berkman faculty, fellows, and staff and to learn about the Center's current activities and ways you can get involved...

Nov 12, 2008 @ 6:00 PM

Second Life: Open Education and Virtual Worlds

Charles and Rebecca Nesson

Professor Charles Nesson and Rebecca Nesson will introduce and present on Second Life in the context of Open Education.

Event Series

Beyond Broadcast 2007: From Participatory Culture to Participatory Democracy

For 50 years broadcast media have played a powerful role in shaping political culture and mediating citizen engagement in the democratic process. Now a participatory culture is…

Event
Feb 20, 2007 @ 12:30 PM

Rehabilitation and Restorative Justice in Jamaica

Charles Nesson and Kevin Wallen

Charles Nesson and Kevin Wallen on "Rehabilitation and Restorative Justice in Jamaica."

Dec 12, 2006 @ 12:30 PM

How Open Will Harvard Be to Internet & Society?

Charles Nesson, Berkman Center Founder

Charles Nesson spoke about his hopes for Harvard in "How Open Will Harvard Be to Internet & Society?"

Sep 12, 2006 @ 12:30 PM

CyberOne: Teaching and Learning in Mixed Realities

Professor Charles Nesson and Rebecca Nesson

Professor Charles Nesson and Rebecca Nesson discussed a new course they are teaching called "CyberOne" combining in-classroom instruction with coursework in Second Life, a 3-D…

Event
Jan 23, 2006 @ 12:30 PM

Jamaica & Restorative Justice

Charlie Nesson & Members of his Evidence Class

Charles Nesson & members of his Evidence class on their Jamaica work & restorative justice focusing out countries hurt by globalization.

Dec 9, 2004 @ 12:00 AM

Internet & Society Conference 2004 (IS2k4): Votes, Bits, and Bytes

The Internet & Society 2004 conference, entitled "Votes, Bits, and Bytes," took place on December 9 - 11, 2004, on the Harvard campus.