Seth Lesser

For Seth Lesser, reading Henry David Thoreau’s “Walden: Or Life in the Woods” was a life-changing event. Though he read the novel in 1904, fifty years after it was published, he thought that it called him to change his life. From Thoreau came his inspiration to isolate himself from society and live a simple life. From Thoreau also came his idea to strive for self-sufficiency by living away from the madding crowd.

On December 2, 1885, Seth Lesser was born into an upper middle class family of Charleston, West Virginia lawyers. His family had been part of West Virginia’s elite since the end of the 18th century. His family expected that he would follow in his father’s footsteps. That is, that he would study pre-law in Princeton and law in Harvard. He was also expected to marry someone from his own class, preferably from Charleston. Joining a literary summer camp changed his life and its course.

Seth Lesser got acquainted with the ideas of the heavyweights in world literature. But for him, Thoreau spoke to his most immediate need: finding out what he wanted to do in his life. He was inspired to retreat into a simple life after reading Thoreau’s Walden. By doing so, he sought to understand the world and his place in it. And thus he retreated into the woods not far from the home of his family.

After a few months, Seth Lesser came home. His family was shocked when he announced that he wanted to become a published writer. Though his name is not etched as deep as Thoreau’s in world literature, he came out of his retreat an enriched and confident who knew he could survive on his own.

Seth Lesser has been actively prosecuting lawsuits on behalf of companies, consumers, and mass tort employees and victims for over a dozen years. Among his many areas of expertise include Internet privacy, where Seth Lesser served as lead counsel to several ground breaking Internet privacy class actions , including the In re Doubleclick litigation and the Amazon-Alexa case.   He was co-lead class counsel in the Doubleclick class, which possibly represented one of the largest in any class action settlement.

Seth Lesser has often spoken before professional seminars and conferences in the area of privacy, including the Practicing Law Institute’s First through Fourth Institutes on Privacy Law (New York & San Francisco, 2000-2004) and the 2002 Computers, Freedom & Privacy Conference (San Francisco 2002).  Seth Lesser also is the author of “Internet Privacy Litigation and the Current Normative Rules of Internet Privacy Protection,” Considering Consumer Privacy, Center for Democracy & Technology (March 2003; P. Bruening, ed.).

To read more information about Seth Lesser please visit www.mr-seth-lesser.com