Lawrence Lessig--a prominent expert on Internet law who advised the judge in the recent Microsoft antitrust trial--announced last week that he will leave his post as Berkman Professor of Entrepreneurial Legal Studies at Harvard Law School to accept a tenured professorship at Stanford Law School.

His decision to leave Harvard Law School (HLS) strikes a blow to the school, which has watched Stanford develop a reputation of being on the cutting edge of the study of the Internet and technology.

"The loss is incalculable--he is the premier cyberlaw scholar in the country," said Climenko Professor of Law Charles J. Ogletree, one of Lessig's colleagues.

Lessig, who has been on leave for this academic year, was out of the country yesterday. But he wrote in an e-mail message that he decided to accept a position at Stanford in order to be closer to his wife.

"I was married in July, and it was important to my wife to be in San

Francisco," he wrote. "So Harvard hasn't changed: it is as it was--an extraordinary law school. The change is all in my life."

Lessig said the recent U.S. News and World Report rankings of law schools, which ranked Harvard's law school behind Stanford's, did not influence his decision. And he said Harvard is the leader in study of public policy as it relates to new technologies.

"I think Harvard is miles ahead of the competition right now. The Berkman Center is the leading law policy center for technology issues in the world," he said.