A commissioner of the FCC, the Assistant U.S. Attorney General, the head of Colorado聮s Public Utilities Commission and local information technology executives will examine telecommunications law at a CU-Boulder School of Law conference Feb. 6-7.
Executives of US West, Level (3) and AT&T will join government officials for the conference, which will explore whether the nation聮s telecommunications laws are fit for the 21st century and, if not, what needs to be done to meet the challenge.
"Telecommunications Law for the 21st Century," will feature prominent public officials, industry leaders, consumer advocates and academicians. Joel Klein, the head of the Justice Department's Antitrust Division, and Michael Powell, a Commissioner on the Federal Communications Commission, will deliver the keynote and closing addresses.
The conference also will include a number of Colorado policy makers including Marc Holtzman, the governor's secretary of technology.
"I am delighted that CU is looking at how our nation's telecommunications laws should evolve as we enter an exciting era of competition and fast-paced technological change," said Holtzman. "And by training young lawyers to enter this field, Colorado will build further on our already attractive business climate for high technology companies."
In light of Colorado's increasing prominence in telecommunications and the high-tech industry, CU聮s Law School is putting greater focus on the role that lawyers play in these industries.
"This conference provides an important step in CU's focus on training lawyers for jobs in our increasingly high-tech economy," explained Hal Bruff, Dean of the CU Law School. "Because technology companies constitute one of Colorado's major industries, the Law School intends to continue to build on our strengths in this area."
Phil Weiser, an associate professor of law who also teaches in the Interdisciplinary Telecommunications Program, is the faculty sponsor of the conference. "CU is very well positioned to become a major center of research, reflection and training for the telecommunications industry and a leader in the development of new regulatory approaches for this dynamic segment of our economy. This conference represents the start of great things to come."
Before joining CU聮s faculty in 1999, Professor Weiser served as senior counsel for telecommunications policy to Joel Klein and as a law clerk to both U.S. Supreme Court Justice Byron White and Judge David Ebel of the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals.
The conference will focus on four particular challenges facing policymakers: (1) the relationship between federal and state regulators, with special reference to how they can support universal service goals (e.g., affordable telephone service); (2) when to mandate "open access" to telecommunications networks, such as local telephone facilities and cable modems; (3) how the FCC and state agencies should define their roles in an era of competition; and (4) how to regulate the Internet.
A select panel composed of academics, policymakers, consumer advocates and industry representatives will address each issue. This spring, the University of Colorado Law Review will publish the papers from the conference in its annual Symposium issue.
For more information on the conference, please contact the Colorado Law Review at 303-492-6145 or go to its web site at ~cololrev/symp00.htm.