Olena V. Ripnick-O’Farrell

Olena Ripnick-O’Farrell is a seasoned copyright attorney with deep IP and AI expertise who specializes in providing legal and strategic guidance at the intersection of law and emerging technology. A practitioner whose counsel spans product, policy, litigation, and commercial agreements, Olena’s is a lexiphile whose love of copyright law began when she was a student at Columbia Law School, where she served as a research assistant for Jane Ginsburg and was awarded both Best in Class, Copyright Law and the Carroll G. Harper Prize for Excellence in Intellectual Property.

A longtime supporter of the Kernochan Center for Law, Media, and the Arts, Olena enjoys examining copyright issues from both the U.S. and global perspectives and considering key stakeholder perspectives on all sides of existing and emerging copyright debates. An advocate for neuroinclusion who was named a 2024 Top 40 Under 40 by the National LGBTQ+ Bar Association, Olena enjoys educating students and artists about foundational copyright concepts, and her favorite one to discuss is fair use. Outside the professional sphere, Olena enjoys skiing, long form journalism, playing Mahjong, and spending time with her wife, Ruth, and two young children, Felix and Jasper.