Marta Belcher

Marta Francesca Belcher is an American technology attorney who has been called a pioneer in the area of blockchain law.[1][2][3][4]

Marta Belcher
Marta Belcher testifying in the New York Senate
Nationality American
EducationStanford Law School, University of California, Berkeley
OccupationTechnology attorney

Early life and education

Belcher was born in Pasadena, California and grew up in La Cañada Flintridge, California.

Belcher received a B.A. in Rhetoric, summa cum laude, from the University of California, Berkeley and a J.D. from Stanford Law School.

During college and law school, she served as the executive director of No Worries Now, a national nonprofit, for which she received numerous awards, including being named the Huffington Post's Greatest Person of the Day.[5][6]

At Stanford Law School, Belcher and two other students delivered a crowdsourced commencement speech written using an online wiki.[7][8][9][10][11][12]

Career

Belcher is an attorney focusing on blockchain and emerging technologies at Ropes & Gray in San Francisco.[13][14] She also serves as outside general counsel of Protocol Labs and special counsel to the Electronic Frontier Foundation.[1][4]

She has spoken about blockchain law around the world, including presenting three times in Davos during the World Economic Forum,[15][16] testifying before the New York State Senate,[17][18] and speaking in European Parliament, the OECD, the Horasis Global Meeting,[19] and United States Congress.[1][20]

Belcher serves as outside general counsel for one of the largest cryptocurrency projects, defended one of the first patent litigations against a blockchain company, and was recognized by the Financial Times Innovative Lawyer awards in 2018 for her pioneering work on the first blockchain-transferable software license and in 2019 for her work on the Protocol Labs Permissive License Stack.[1][3][2] She also represents major blockchain industry groups and civil liberties organizations—including the Electronic Frontier Foundation and the Blockchain Association—in matters relating to blockchain and public policy.[1][21][22][23]

Belcher has also represented public interest organizations in high-profile matters involving technology and civil liberties, including submitting briefs on behalf of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, Center for Democracy and Technology, Open Technology Institute, National Consumers League, and Cato Institute in the United States courts of appeals and Supreme Court of the United States.[24][25][26]

References
  1. Forbes, "How Blockchain Will Change Companies: Q&A with Blockchain Expert Marta Belcher" (September 25, 2019)
  2. Financial Times, "Financial Times Innovative Lawyers 2019" (December 10, 2019)
  3. Financial Times, "Financial Times Innovative Lawyers 2018" (December 11, 2018)
  4. Electronic Frontier Foundation, "Staff: Marta Belcher, EFF Special Counsel"
  5. Huffington Post, "HuffPost Greatest Person Of The Day: Marta Belcher and 'No Worries Now' Give Teens A Unique Prom" (June 27, 2011)
  6. Yahoo! News, "An Unforgettable Night for Teens with Life-Threatening Illnesses" (July 11, 2013)
  7. Forbes, "8 Stanford Men Vied for Glory. She didn't. Guess who won?" (May 15, 2015)
  8. Chronicle of Higher Education, "Silicon Valley Innovation: Stanford Law Student Crowdsources Her Graduation Speech" (May 18, 2015)
  9. The Stanford Daily, "Law School Students Crowdsource Commencement Address" (May 27, 2015)
  10. Stanford Magazine, "Law Grads Put Their Heads Together" (July 1, 2015)
  11. The Recorder, "Stanford Law Students Are Crowdsourcing Graduation Speech" (May 15, 2015)
  12. Above The Law, "On-Campus With Elie: Wiki Commencement" (Nov. 13, 2014)
  13. Exploring Minds with Michelle Carroll, "Marta Belcher - Blockchain Law & Intellectual Property" (September 16, 2018)
  14. Bloomberg Law Code & Conduit Podcast, "Talking Blockchain Patents with Ropes & Gray" (August 2018)
  15. Ropes & Gray, "IP Litigator Speaks on Blockchain Law During the World Economic Forum in Davos" (January 30, 2019)
  16. Ropes & Gray, "At Davos World Economic Forum, Intellectual Property Litigator Speaks at Cryptocurrency Event" (January 29, 2018)
  17. Marta Belcher New York Senate Testimony (June 4, 2019)
  18. Ropes & Gray, "Attorney Marta Belcher Testifies at New York Senate Hearing on Online Privacy" (June 6, 2019)
  19. Ropes & Gray, “Attorney Marta Belcher Chairs Cryptocurrency Program at Horasis Global Meeting in Portugal” (May 8, 2019)
  20. Ropes & Gray, "Two Ropes & Gray Attorneys Testified on Capitol Hill on Issues Impacting Technology Companies" (July 22, 2019)
  21. Electronic Frontier Foundation, "SEC’s Action Against Decentralized Exchange Raises Constitutional Questions" (Feb. 12, 2019)
  22. Electronic Frontier Foundation, "EFF and Open Rights Group Defend the Right to Publish Open Source Software to the U.K. Government" (June 10, 2019)
  23. Electronic Frontier Foundation, "Why Outlawing Cryptocurrency Purchases Is a Terrible Idea" (June 10, 2019)
  24. Cato Institute, "Georgia v. Public.Resource.Org" (Oct. 16, 2019)
  25. Center for Democracy & Technology, "CDT Joins EFF and NCL in Amicus Brief Defending Cy Pres Awards" (Sept. 2018)
  26. Ropes & Gray, “Fourth Circuit Extensively Quotes Ropes & Gray Amicus Brief in Important Privacy Ruling” (March 8, 2019)
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.