So as part of my research and studies, I went from midwest, to west coast, and now I am back on the east where I used to live. While the midwest is home to one of the most prestigious law schools, there is very little activity related to technology, IP, and free speech issues–on academic or activist lines, at least in comparison to the other coasts.

On the west coast the activity was and still is overflowing but much of it was advocacy, policy related, or political in nature. Not to mention there are tons of grass roots initiatives related to this sort of stuff. Stanford law school and Boalt school of law however, guaranteed a consistent academic face.

Out on the east coast, I feel there is much less non-legal as well as perhaps legal (but I may be very wrong on that account) advocacy but the academic presence is very well developed, for example with seminar’s such as NYU’s Colloquium on Information Technology & Society and numerous conferences. One of the up and coming ones looks particiularly good,
Regulating Search: A Symposium on Search Engines, Law, and Public Policy. Certainly worth going to if you are around.