Can you objectively and accurately describe a sandwich?

Students attending Keith Porcaro’s Readings in Algorithms and the Law at Duke University School of Law learn to think about how algorithms work by first building their own. In addition to creating an algorithm to describe a sandwich, students are tasked with other hands-on challenges, such as translating an expungement statute into a simple logical expression.

Porcaro is the director of the Digital Governance Design Studio at Duke Law, which is focused on helping organizations make informed decisions about data and technology.

“The world is starved for lawyers who can advise clients on technology, as it changes quickly,” he says. “I’m not training them to be programmers, but how to think critically about what’s behind the curtain in the decision-making when it comes to algorithms and technology.”

Inspired by an interest in game design and experience in college theater production, Porcaro uses a role-playing simulation-based curriculum to teach students at Duke Law to understand how technology works, analyze its implications and, ultimately, give thoughtful and responsible advice to future clients.

In another class on data governance, Porcaro helps students imagine and navigate information-sharing in different situations, such as a health care system studying early-onset Alzheimer’s disease. Through role-playing, students discuss the limitations of storing and protecting data and how collaboration can conflict with privacy concerns. He adds that he recently added another class in which students learn foundational technology skills to solve legal problems.

He “focuses on the middle ground between professional advice and digital self-help tools—what he calls gray advice,” says Jeff Ward, director of the Duke Center on Law & Technology. “Instead of centering debates on futuristic robot lawyers or [artificial intelligence] judges, he looks closely at how ordinary people already rely on apps, websites and algorithms for legal and health guidance when professional help is unaffordable or unavailable.”

Porcaro studied international politics at Georgetown University School of Foreign Service, graduating in 2008. He went on to Duke for law school, graduating in 2011.

“A question that nagged at me was, ‘How could organizations keep data safe?’” he says. “I heard organizations promising to do that, but it struck me that those promises would be difficult to keep.”

After graduation, Porcaro initially worked as the legal project director for FrontlineSMS, a software platform that helped nonprofits and other organizations communicate and coordinate activities. He also served as general counsel and chief technology officer at Social Impact Lab, where he helped develop technology-driven delivery of government and social services.

As a consultant, Porcaro advised the National Center for State Courts, the Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center and the Cape Cod Commercial Fishermen’s Alliance on data governance. Starting in 2017, he also taught at Georgetown University Law Center as an adjunct before moving out of the Washington, D.C., area.

According to Ward, Porcaro’s “work peels back the curtain on algorithms and digital advice tools, revealing how they shape access to justice, health care and public trust.”