Edlene Miguel ’25 and Bani Sapra ’25 are the outgoing co-editors-in-chief of the Berkeley Technology Law Journal, now celebrating its 40th anniversary.
Miguel previously worked as a software engineer, helping develop data-driven personalized healthcare platforms and applications used in medical diagnostics. Coming to law school to pursue a career in intellectual property and technology law, she hoped to continue working on the frontlines of groundbreaking technological advancements, leveraging her training as a computer scientist to help promote innovation.
Before law school, Sapra worked as a digital and magazine journalist covering nascent startups, emerging technologies, and (eventually) the global technology industry from the Bay Area and the Middle East. In this role, she encountered lawyers, scholars, and policymakers working at the intersection of law and technology and was thus ultimately inspired to work in this dynamic field.
Below, Miguel and Sapra reflect on the journal’s impressive 40-year legacy and their experience leading the journal at a time of dizzying advancements in technology — with the law scrambling to keep pace.
We both joined the Berkeley Technology Law Journal(opens in a new tab) (BTLJ) in Fall 2022, drawn by the opportunity to critically engage with legal ideas alongside a strong and diverse technology law community. As first-year law students, we were excited to play a part in the country’s longest-standing technology law journal.
Three years later, it is our immense honor to celebrate the 40th anniversary of BTLJ, a journal that has played a pivotal role in shaping legal scholarship, advancing the careers of several authors, and defining the academic and professional journeys of countless UC Berkeley Law students.
Bold beginnings, lasting impact
BTLJ was founded in March 1985, back in the early days of the Internet, when technology law was largely synonymous with intellectual property law. Originally named the High Technology Law Journal, the journal’s entrepreneurial founding members recognized that the legal field would soon face novel questions posed by emerging technologies.
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