Until his leave of absence to launch his campaign, Lessig was the director of the Edmond J. Safra Center for Ethics at Harvard University.
His full-time work on corruption began in 2007, when Lessig announced that he would stop focusing his attention on copyright and related matters and work on political corruption instead.
In February 2008, a Facebook group formed by law professor John Palfrey encouraged him to run for Congress from California's 12th congressional district, the seat vacated by the death of U.S. Representative Tom Lantos.
Later that month, after forming an "exploratory project", he decided not to run for the vacant seat.

Despite having decided to forgo running for Congress himself, Lessig remained interested in attempting to change Congress to reduce corruption.
To this end, he worked with political consultant Joe Trippi to launch a web based project called "Change Congress".
In 2010, Lessig began to organize for a national constitutional convention, co-founding Fix Congress First!,
again with Joe Trippi.

He called for a convention to propose amendments to the United States Constitution both in a September 24–25, 2011, conference co-chaired by the Tea Party Patriots' national coordinator, and at an October 2011 Occupy protest in Washington, DC.
Reporter Dan Froomkin said his 2011 book, Republic, Lost: How Money Corrupts Congress—and a Plan to Stop It, offers a manifesto for the Occupy Wall Street protestors, focusing on the core problem of corruption in both political parties and their elections.
Lessig also co-founded Rootstrikers, another project to help volunteers to address the problem of money in politics.

The New Hampshire Rebellion, likewise co-founded by Lessig, is a walk to raise awareness about corruption in politics.
 The event began in 2014 with a 185-mile march in New Hampshire.
From Jan 11 until January 24, 2014, Larry Lessig and many others, like New York activist Jeff Kurzon, marched from Dixville Notch, New Hampshire to Nashua NH (a 185-mile march) to promote the idea of tackling "The Systemic Corruption in Washington."
Lessig chose this language over the related term "campaign finance reform," commenting that "Saying we need campaign finance reform is like referring to an alcoholic as someone who has a liquid intake problem."
The walk was to continue the work of NH Native Doris "Granny D" Haddock, and in honor of deceased activist Aaron Swartz.
In its second year the walk expanded to include other locations in New Hampshire.

In May 2014, Lessig launched a crowd-funded political action committee which he termed Mayday PAC with the purpose of electing candidates to Congress who would pass campaign finance reform.
He is on the boards of MapLight and Represent.us.
He serves on the advisory boards of the Democracy Café and the Sunlight Foundation.
Lessig's TED talks explaining the corruption of Congress and how to stop it have been viewed by millions.
Until his leave of absence to launch his campaign, Lessig was the director of the Edmond J. Safra Center for Ethics at Harvard University. His full-time work on corruption began in 2007, when Lessig announced that he would stop focusing his attention on copyright and related matters and work on political corruption instead. In February 2008, a Facebook group formed by law professor John Palfrey encouraged him to run for Congress from California's 12th congressional district, the seat vacated by the death of U.S. Representative Tom Lantos. Later that month, after forming an "exploratory project", he decided not to run for the vacant seat.
Despite having decided to forgo running for Congress himself, Lessig remained interested in attempting to change Congress to reduce corruption. To this end, he worked with political consultant Joe Trippi to launch a web based project called "Change Congress". In 2010, Lessig began to organize for a national constitutional convention, co-founding Fix Congress First!, again with Joe Trippi.
He called for a convention to propose amendments to the United States Constitution both in a September 24–25, 2011, conference co-chaired by the Tea Party Patriots' national coordinator, and at an October 2011 Occupy protest in Washington, DC. Reporter Dan Froomkin said his 2011 book, Republic, Lost: How Money Corrupts Congress—and a Plan to Stop It, offers a manifesto for the Occupy Wall Street protestors, focusing on the core problem of corruption in both political parties and their elections. Lessig also co-founded Rootstrikers, another project to help volunteers to address the problem of money in politics.
The New Hampshire Rebellion, likewise co-founded by Lessig, is a walk to raise awareness about corruption in politics.  The event began in 2014 with a 185-mile march in New Hampshire. From Jan 11 until January 24, 2014, Larry Lessig and many others, like New York activist Jeff Kurzon, marched from Dixville Notch, New Hampshire to Nashua NH (a 185-mile march) to promote the idea of tackling "The Systemic Corruption in Washington." Lessig chose this language over the related term "campaign finance reform," commenting that "Saying we need campaign finance reform is like referring to an alcoholic as someone who has a liquid intake problem." The walk was to continue the work of NH Native Doris "Granny D" Haddock, and in honor of deceased activist Aaron Swartz. In its second year the walk expanded to include other locations in New Hampshire.
In May 2014, Lessig launched a crowd-funded political action committee which he termed Mayday PAC with the purpose of electing candidates to Congress who would pass campaign finance reform. He is on the boards of MapLight and Represent.us. He serves on the advisory boards of the Democracy Café and the Sunlight Foundation. Lessig's TED talks explaining the corruption of Congress and how to stop it have been viewed by millions.
Lawrence Lessig 2016 presidential campaign