Ruth L. Okediji is Jeremiah Smith, Jr., Professor of Law at Harvard Law School and Co-Director of Harvard University’s Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society. She teaches contracts, international intellectual property (IP), patents, copyright, and courses on artificial intelligence (AI). Professor Okediji’s research and scholarship examine innovation policy, the digital economy, and global knowledge governance. She advises governments and international organizations on a variety of issues at the intersection of innovation policy, AI, and human development. She has authored an extensive array of influential articles, commissioned papers, and book chapters on the relationship between intellectual property, innovation, and human wellbeing. She was a member of the U.S. National Academies Board on Science, Technology and Policy Committee on the Impact of Copyright Policy on Innovation in the Digital Era, and in 2021 she completed service as Co-Chair of the National Academies Board on Science, Technology, and Economic Policy Committee on Advancing Commercialization from the Federal Laboratories.

Over the course of her distinguished career, Professor Okediji has received many awards and distinctions for teaching, advising, and mentoring. These include “Professor Most Likely to Go Beyond the Call of Duty” and the Student Bar Association’s “Outstanding Professor Award.” She is a two-time recipient of the Harvard Law School Women’s Law Association “Shatter the Ceiling” Award. Professor Okediji was named one of the 50 most influential figures in the field of intellectual property by Managing IP and she received the 2019 Public Knowledge IP3 Award. She is also a 2023 recipient of the Barry Prize for Distinguished Intellectual Achievement awarded by the American Academy of Sciences and Letters. She is a graduate of the University of Jos (LL.B.) and Harvard Law School (LL.M., S.J.D.).