About Alex Feerst

Alex Feerst - Technology Lawyer

Alex Feerst is a prominent technology lawyer, digital trust and safety consultant, leading researcher on technology ethics in AI and neurotechnology, and Chief Legal Officer of Science Corporation. 

Alex Feerst is currently the Chief Legal Officer of Science Corporation starting in 2024. Alex was the General Counsel of Neuralink from 2019 to 2021. Alex was General Counsel and Head of Trust and Safety at Medium from 2015 to 2019. Alex Feerst’s legal clients include top tech startups in a range of sectors including artificial intelligence, robotics, neurotechnology, social media, hardware, and web3. Alex’s current and previous legal clients include BoingBoing, Twitter, Google, and Wikimedia.

Alex Feerst served as President of the San Francisco Intellectual Property Law Association from 2020 to 2021, and served on the board of that association from 2012 to 2022.

Alex was an associate attorney at Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe from 2011 to 2013. Alex was an associate attorney at intellectual property boutique law firm Durie Tangri LLP from 2013 to 2015. 

Alex worked at Stanford’s Fair Use Project in 2009 where he litigated cases pro copyright bono for artists and activists, and advised documentary filmmakers, including for Under the Boardwalk: The Monopoly Story.

In 2007, Alex worked for The Honorable Sonia Sotomayor at the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, and The Honorable Barbara S. Jones at US District Court for the Southern District of New York.

Alex has been a member of the California State Bar and New York State Bar since 2010.

Digital Trust and Safety Consultant

Alex Feerst is a preeminent expert on digital trust and safety. Alex founded Murmuration Labs in 2020. Murmuration Labs is a digital trust and safety consultancy.

He co-founded the Digital Trust & Safety Partnership in 2021. Since 2021 he has worked as a senior researcher at the Digital Trust & Safety Partnership. Alex Feerst was Editor-in-Chief of their Glossary of Trust and Safety Terms.

Alex Feerst serves on the editorial board of the Journal of Online Trust & Safety starting in 2021. Alex co-authored an article for the journal entitled, Toward a Common Baseline Understanding of Trust and Safety Terminology in 2023.

Alex was an advisor to the Trust and Safety Professional Association from 2020 to 2021.

Alex Feerst has written extensively about trust and safety. In 2019, he published Your Speech, Their Rules, one of the first collections of interviews with front line trust and safety workers, in Medium’s OneZero, which was featured in Fast Company.

Alex Feerst has been called, “one of the great thinkers about Internet content moderation” by Stanford Law Professor Daphne Keller.

Alex is a member of the Atlantic Council’s Task Force for a Trustworthy Future Web.

Alex Feerst is a fellow at Stanford’s Center for Internet and Society since 2010.

Angel Investor for Technology Startups

Alex Feerst is an active angel investor in technology startups, in areas including artificial intelligence, robotics, deep tech, ecommerce, and web3. Alex invested in Foundation in 2021, and Chef Robotics in 2021. See Alex Feerst on Pitchbook.

Board Service

Alex Feerst has served on many boards.

Advisor for Technology Organizations

Alex Feerst is board chair of the Responsible Data Foundation since 2020.

Alex was an advisor to the Public Theologies of Technology and Presence initiative at the Institute of Buddhist Studies from 2018 to 2022.

Alex was interviewed for the Atlantic Magazine’s Conference on the American Dream in 2018, which was featured on C-SPAN

Alex Feerst is a board member of AI & Democracy Foundation since 2024.  

Alex Feerst is a board member of the MobileCoin Foundation since 2020.

Alex Feerst’s Education

Alex was awarded a JD from Columbia Law School in 2009. Alex received a certificate of achievement from Columbia Law School’s Parker School of Foreign and Comparative Law. He was Editor-in-Chief of the Columbia Journal of Asian Law from 2008-2009. Alex was a Columbia Law School Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar from 2008-2009.

Alex was awarded a PhD in English Literature from Duke University in 2005 and was a fellow at Duke University’s Kenan Institute for Ethics in 2005. Alex taught American literature and literary theory at Macalester College in 2005-2006.

Alex was awarded a degree in English & Anthropology from Columbia University in 1998.

Alex Feerst on Social Media

Alex Feerst’s Online Publications and Appearances

Alex Feerst’s Academic Publications