Gautam Hans is a clinical professor of law and founding director of the Civil Rights and Civil Liberties Clinic (CRCLC) at Cornell Law School. A frequent media commenter on privacy, free speech, and surveillance, Hans regularly speaks at conferences and symposia on current issues in technology law, clinical legal education, and free speech. He has served in multiple leadership roles in the national clinical legal community, including as co-president of the Clinical Legal Education Association and on the board of the Center for Study of Applied Legal Education. He currently serves on the executive committee of the AALS Section on Clinical Legal Education and the board of editors for the Clinical Law Review.

In 2024, Hans received the M. Shanara Gilbert Award from the AALS Section on Clinical Legal Education. In addition to his scholarship on free speech, technology law and policy, and clinical legal education, Hans has a robust pro bono amicus practice in state and federal courts focusing on novel issues in free speech, privacy, and technology law.

Before joining Cornell Law, Hans served as associate clinical professor of law and founding director of Vanderbilt Law School’s Stanton Foundation First Amendment Clinic. He completed his clinical teaching fellowship at the University of Michigan Law School. Prior to his academic career, Hans worked at the Center for Democracy & Technology in Washington, D.C., and San Francisco, CA, for four years, focusing on privacy, free speech, and surveillance law and policy.

Hans earned his J.D. from the University of Michigan Law School; his M.S. in information policy from the University of Michigan School of Information; and his B.A. in English and Comparative Literature from Columbia University.