Editing Lawrence Lessig (section)

== Personal life ==
In May 2005, it was revealed that Lessig had experienced [[sexual abuse]] by the director at the [[American Boychoir School]], which he had attended as an adolescent.<ref>{{cite web|last=Heilemann |first=John |url=http://www.newyorkmetro.com/nymetro/news/features/12061/index.html |title=Lawrence Lessig and John Hardwicke Fight Sexual Abuse and the American Boychoir School |publisher=Newyorkmetro.com |date=2005-05-21 |access-date=2011-01-23 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090109184450/http://newyorkmetro.com/nymetro/news/features/12061/index.html |archive-date=January 9, 2009 }}</ref> Lessig reached a settlement with the school in the past, under confidential terms. He revealed his experiences in the course of representing another student victim, John Hardwicke, in court.<ref>{{cite web|last=Lessig |first=Lawrence |url=http://www.lessig.org/blog/2005/05/living_with_ghosts.html |title=living with ghosts (Lessig Blog) |publisher=Lessig.org |date=2005-05-25 |access-date=2011-01-23 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110116200950/http://lessig.org/blog/2005/05/living_with_ghosts.html |archive-date=January 16, 2011 }}</ref> In August 2006, he succeeded in persuading the [[New Jersey Supreme Court]] to radically restrict the scope of immunity,  which had protected nonprofits that failed to prevent sexual abuse from legal liability.<ref name="Hardwicke v. American Boychoir">{{cite web |url=http://lawlibrary.rutgers.edu/decisions/supreme/a-17-04.doc.html |title=Hardwicke v. American Boychoir |access-date=September 9, 2006 |archive-date=December 5, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201205171518/https://law.rutgers.edu/page-not-found |url-status=live }}</ref>

Lessig is married to Bettina Neuefeind, a German-born Harvard University colleague. The two married in 1999.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.bloomberg.com/bw/stories/2000-03-05/the-paul-revere-of-the-web|title=The Paul Revere Of The Web|author=Timothy J. Mullaney|date=March 6, 2000|publisher=Bloomberg|access-date=March 8, 2017|archive-date=February 17, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160217005610/http://www.bloomberg.com/bw/stories/2000-03-05/the-paul-revere-of-the-web|url-status=live}}</ref> He and Neuefeind have three children: Willem, Coffy, and Tess.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.hyperink.com/Personal-Life-b1404a12|title=Personal Life - Lawrence Lessig: A Biography|publisher=Hyperink.com|access-date=2015-08-12|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924032036/http://www.hyperink.com/Personal-Life-b1404a12|archive-date=September 24, 2015|df=mdy-all}}</ref>

=== Defamation lawsuit against ''The New York Times'' ===
In 2019, during the criminal investigation of [[Jeffrey Epstein]], it was discovered that the [[MIT Media Lab]], under former director [[Joichi Ito]], had accepted secret donations from Epstein after Epstein had been convicted on criminal charges. Ito eventually resigned as director of the [[MIT Media Lab]] following this discovery. After making supportive comments to Ito, Lessig wrote a [[Medium (website)|Medium]] post in September 2019 to explain his stance. In his post, Lessig acknowledged that universities should not take donations from convicted criminals such as Epstein who had become wealthy through actions unrelated to their criminal convictions; however, if such donations were to be accepted, it was better to take them secretly rather than publicly connect the university to the criminal.<ref>{{cite web | url = https://medium.com/@lessig/on-joi-and-mit-3cb422fe5ae7 | title = On Joi and MIT | first = Lawrence | last = Lessig | date = September 8, 2019 | access-date = January 13, 2020 | website = Medium.com | archive-date = January 13, 2020 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20200113194255/https://medium.com/@lessig/on-joi-and-mit-3cb422fe5ae7 | url-status = live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url = https://thehill.com/homenews/media/478025-harvard-professor-sues-nyt-over-epstein-donations-story | title = Harvard professor sues NYT over Epstein donations story | first = Harper | last = Neidig | date = January 13, 2020 | access-date = January 13, 2020 | work = [[The Hill (newspaper)|The Hill]] | archive-date = January 13, 2020 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20200113221605/https://thehill.com/homenews/media/478025-harvard-professor-sues-nyt-over-epstein-donations-story | url-status = live }}</ref> Lessig's essay drew criticism, and about a week later, [[Nellie Bowles]] of ''[[The New York Times]]'' had an interview with Lessig in which he reiterated his stance related to such donations broadly.<ref>{{cite web | url = https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/14/business/lessig-epstein-ito-mit.html | title = A Harvard Professor Doubles Down: If You Take Epstein's Money, Do It in Secret | first = Nellie | last = Bowles | date = September 14, 2019 | access-date = January 13, 2020 | work = [[The New York Times]] | archive-date = January 13, 2020 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20200113221608/https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/14/business/lessig-epstein-ito-mit.html | url-status = live }}</ref> The article used the headline "A Harvard Professor Doubles Down: If You Take Epstein’s Money, Do It in Secret", which Lessig confirmed was based on a statement he had made to the ''Times''. Lessig took issue with the headline overlooking his argument that MIT should not accept such donations in the first place and also criticized the first two lines of the article which read "It is hard to defend soliciting donations from the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. But Lawrence Lessig, a Harvard Law professor, has been trying." He subsequently accused the ''Times'' of writing [[clickbait]] with the headline crafted to defame him, and stated that the circulation of the article on social media had hurt his reputation.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2020-01-14 |title=Professor sues New York Times over story related to Epstein |url=https://apnews.com/general-news-80a6a6abe58853cd401763bfdb812393 |access-date=2025-04-27 |website=AP News |language=en}}</ref>

In January 2020, Lessig filed a defamation lawsuit against the ''Times'', including writer Bowles, business editor Ellen Pollock, and executive editor Dean Baquet. The ''Times'' stated they would "vigorously" defend against Lessig's claim, and believed that what they had published was accurate and had been reviewed by senior editors following Lessig's initial complaints.<ref>{{cite web | url = https://www.theverge.com/2020/1/13/21063873/jeffrey-epstein-lessig-nyt-defamation-lawsuit-mit-joi-ito-donations-interview | title = Lawrence Lessig sues New York Times over MIT and Jeffrey Epstein interview | first = Adi | last = Robertson | date = January 13, 2020 | access-date = January 13, 2020 | work = [[The Verge]] | archive-date = January 13, 2020 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20200113221650/https://www.theverge.com/2020/1/13/21063873/jeffrey-epstein-lessig-nyt-defamation-lawsuit-mit-joi-ito-donations-interview | url-status = live }}</ref>

In April 2020, ''The New York Times'' changed its original headline to read: "What Are the Ethics of Taking Tainted Funds? A conversation with Lawrence Lessig about Jeffrey Epstein, M.I.T. and reputation laundering."<ref>{{cite news |title= What Are the Ethics of Taking Tainted Funds? | website = [[The New York Times]] | date = September 14, 2019 | url = https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/14/business/lessig-epstein-ito-mit.html | last1 = Bowles | first1 = Nellie }}</ref>  Lessig reported he subsequently withdrew his defamation lawsuit.<ref>{{cite web | title=Against Clickbait Defamation | url = https://clickbaitdefamation.org/ }}</ref>