Orly Lobel is the Warren Distinguished Professor of Law, and the founding director of the Center for Employment and Labor Policy (CELP) at University of San Diego. She is the award-winning author several books and numerous articles. Lobel is a prolific speaker, consultant, expert witness, commentator and scholar who travels the world with an impact on policy and industry. A graduate of Tel-Aviv University and Harvard Law School, Lobel clerked on the Israeli Supreme Court and is a member of the American Law Institute. She has recently been named as one of the most cited legal scholars in the country in law and technology and in employment law. She has received several grants for her scholarship including most recently a grant from the AI and Humanities Project.
Her books You Don’t Own Me: How Mattel v. MGA Entertainment Exposed Barbie’s Dark Side (Norton 2018) and Talent Wants to Be Free: Why We Should Learn to Love Leaks, Raids and Free Riding (Yale University Press 2013), are the recipient of several prestigious awards and have been reviewed in top scholarly and popular media, including The New Yorker, the Financial Times, Sunday Times, and the Wall Street Journal.
In 2016 Lobel was invited to Washington DC to present her research on talent mobility at the White House, a meeting which resulted in a presidential call for action. In 2020 she was the keynote speaker and advisor to the Federal Trade Commission on labor market competition policy. Lobel advises both public agencies and private tech leaders on competition, trade secrecy, labor market, and tech policy. She is a beloved teacher and mentor and has been recognized by her students for as a Woman of Impact and a Woman of Valor.
Her new book The Equality Machine: Harnessing Tomorrow’s Technologies for a Brighter, More Inclusive Future (PublicAffairs) has received raving reviews and has been named by The Economist as a Best Book of 2022 (“brilliant”). Science Magazine calls the book masterfull and Kirkus describes The Equality Machine, “a compelling, hopeful, enthusiastic yet measured argument for technology’s potential to promote equality across many facets of culture and industry.”
