Professor

David

W.

Opderbeck

David Opderbeck is Professor of Law and Co-Director of the Gibbons Institute of Law, Science & Technology and Institute for Privacy Protection at Seton Hall University Law School. His legal scholarship focuses on artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, data privacy, and intellectual property law. He develops and teaches innovative courses in technology law, including Cybersecurity Law and Policy, Artificial Intelligence and the Law, and a Data Privacy and Security Lab. He also leads the Law School's Data Privacy and Security Compliance Program. In the core law school curriculum, he has taught Property Law, Constitutional Law, and Torts. He is also a Faculty Associate with the Berkman-Klein Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University.

Prior to his career in academia, Professor Opderbeck was a Partner in the Intellectual Property / Technology practice at McCarter & English, LLP, where he began practicing cyber and intellectual property law in the early years of the public Internet. In 1995, the New Jersey Law Journal documented that he was the first practicing attorney in New Jersey to establish an Internet home page. He continues to engage in practice activities, including serving as an arbitrator through the American Arbitration Association in cases involving data breaches, cryptocurrency, and other issues.

Professor Opderbeck is also interested in legal philosophy and the moral dimensions of law and public policy. In addition to his legal training, he holds earned Doctorate and Masters degrees in theology. 

He is the author of numerous law review articles and three books, Law and Theology: Classic Questions and Contemporary Perspectives (Fortress Press 2019) and The End of the Law? Law, Theology, and Neuroscience (Wipf & Stock / Cascade 2021) and Faithful Exchange: The Economy as It's Meant to Be, (Fortress Press 2025).  In addition to his appointment at the Law School, he is Affiliated Faculty in Seton Hall's Department of Religion.