Digital Commons Network^™

Balancing Nationalities In International Investment Law, Peter J. Spiro

Chicago Journal of International Law

How can you tell where someone is “from”?  Historically, an individual’s national identity was singular, starting with formal nationality. One’s national center of gravity was readily determinable. Not so today. Determining one’s primary national identification is no longer an easy thing in many cases. This is consequentially enabled by the growing acceptance of dual citizenship. One can openly identify as a formal member of more than one country in a way that was disfavored in the past.

International investment law, however, has not caught up to this reality. In an increasing number of international arbitrations, tribunals are shutting the doors …

Looking Forward, Reflecting Back: The Promise Of Dispute Resolution To Reform The Criminal Legal System, Cynthia Alkon

Faculty Scholarship

The criminal legal system in the United States is plagued by serious and systemic problems. There have been countless efforts at reform over the last many decades that have included changes in what is a crime, how crimes are punished, how prosecutors do their job, and changes in policing. Yet, despite these efforts, problems such as mass incarceration remain deeply embedded. It is easy to be swept up in pessimism when discussing the criminal legal system. Change is hard, at best incremental, and we seem to be in the beginning of an era of backlash against recent reforms. This is …

Digital Assets And The Property Question, Andrea Tosato, Christopher K. Odinet

Faculty Scholarship

Is crypto property? The proliferation of digital assets such as cryptocurrencies, stablecoins, memecoins, and NFTs has confronted legal systems worldwide with three interdependent challenges: determining whether they are property, identifying their appropriate classification within property taxonomies, and establishing rules for their circulation in commerce. Our Article addresses this tripartite question—the Property Question—within American law.

The stakes here are significant. Billions of dollars in digital assets are traded daily, used as collateral, and held by custodial platforms. Yet all these transactions rest on an unresolved premise: that digital assets can be owned and are governed by established property rules. This fundamental …

Optimization Of The Cmc Algorithm, Christopher Joseph Moner

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Cartridge cases recovered from discharged firearms contain tool marks produced by the internal mechanisms of said firearm. Firearm and tool mark examiners com pare these marks to determine whether two cartridge cases originated from the same firearm. Traditional comparison methods have been criticized for their subjective nature and reliance on examiner interpretation rather than objective decision thresholds. The Congruent Matching Cells (CMC) algorithm was developed as a quantitative, objective method for tool mark comparison. CMC is a surface topography correlation algorithm that partitions a tool mark into small regions, or cells, and evaluates their similarity using the areal cross-correlation function …

The Seeds Of Peace And Justice, Shai Dothan

Chicago Journal of International Law

Some positive developments in international law had humble beginnings. They started from a small group of idealists who wanted to change the world for the better. Once their ideas gathered momentum, they got the support of people with power and transformed the world. State after state followed each other in a cascade toward improving international law. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the conditions that are beneficial for the initial germination of ideas with the potential to positively revolutionize international law. By using a series of case studies focused on the initiation of major transformations that improved international …

The Apathy Economy: Patents, Advertising, And Consumer Indifference, Gavin J. Milczarek-Desai, Derek E. Bambauer

Cardozo Arts & Entertainment Law Journal

Patents function as signals as well as rights to exclude. They inform competitors, investors, employees, and consumers about the invention and its owner. How this information affects consumers is not well understood. Existing studies disagree about how advertising a product or service as patented, or patent pending, affects the price consumers will pay. This Article offers the first major empirical study of that question andfinds that consumers behave with surprising rationality: they will not pay any price premium for a patented product. A product's patent status conveys little information about whether it is superior to competing offerings. The results hold …

Foreign Official Immunity And The Future Of International Criminal Law, Derek Jinks

Emory International Law Review

No abstract provided.

Moréteau On Law, Language & Heritage, Agustin Parise, Mariano Vitetta, Michel Séjean

All Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Monopolizing The Harvest: Corporate Influence And Regulatory Gaps In Global Seed Governance, Mia Mahmudur Rahim

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

No abstract provided.

Acceptance Remarks For The 2026 Distinguished Service Award For Lifetime Achievement: Reflections On Journey, Learning And Paying It Forward, Jack Butler

Emory Bankruptcy Developments Journal

No abstract provided.

U.S. Administrative Law: A Casebook (6th Ed.), Jud Mathews

Faculty Scholarship

The number of administrative law texts is vast. The approach of this one, now in its fifth edition, is simple. It is: (1) to focus on the richest and most canonical cases; (2) to provide more extensive extracts of them than most casebooks; and (3) to keep the notes to a bare minimum. Updated through October 2025, the book contains a number of significant decisions from recent Supreme Court terms, as well as foundational classics that many contemporary casebooks cut, and much in between.

The Civil Justice Business, J. Maria Glover

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

Our civil justice system rests on foundational commitments: to make rights real for those the law protects, whatever their station; to hold wrongdoers accountable, whatever their power; and to deter misconduct in a system that depends heavily on private enforcement. We put great faith in these values.

Civil justice, for all its lofty goals, is also a business. Attorneys and liability insurers have long held economic stakes in litigation, bounded by their own professional and regulatory norms. Now, a new litigation finance industry has arisen: outside investors supply equity capital—divorced from legal representation and liability management—and take returns directly from …

Much Ado About Misjoinder: An Alternative To Fraudulent Misjoinder To Preserve Defendants’ Right To Removal In Pharmaceutical And Medical Device Products Liability Cases, Alexander Flaum

Cardozo Law Review

Unresolved questions surrounding the contours of the fraudulent misjoinder doctrine have understandably led to reluctance by courts to adopt it, despite its utility in protecting defendants’ access to federal court. This is particularly troubling in the context of pharmaceutical and medical device products liability cases. It is common in these actions for plaintiffs, whose only connection is having consumed a particular pharmaceutical product at different points in time and for different durations, to strategically join in one action to defeat complete diversity and prevent removal to federal court. However, federal courts are not powerless to prevent such procedural gamesmanship. By …

Racing To Safety: Tax Policy For Ai Safety-By-Design, Mirit Eyal-Cohen, Yonathan Arbel

SMU Law Review

The White House recently announced its vision of artificial intelligence (AI) policy: AI development is a race and America must win it. To that end, a new America’s AI Action Plan directs federal agencies and states to remove regulatory barriers to AI development and accelerate innovation. This approach leaves limited room for regulatory measures that would address the safety risks of powerful AI systems: their behavior in novel domains remains unpredictable, their decision-making opaqueness, and their alignment with human values is uncertain. While experts warn of large-scale accidents, policymakers find themselves in a bind: Regulate AI and cede ground to …

Trademark Confusion After The Algorithmic Turn, Daryl Lim

SMU Law Review

Trademark confusion doctrine rests on an implicit theory of consumer perception. Courts infer confusion through proxies such as similarity, market proximity, intent, and evidence of actual confusion, presuming that consumers encounter trademarks in stable, human-designed environments. That premise no longer holds uniformly across contemporary markets. Today, consumers increasingly encounter trademarks through algorithmic systems that rank, cluster, recommend, and generate content on their behalf.

This Article argues that trademark law’s likelihood of confusion doctrine has not yet reckoned with this transformation. In algorithmically mediated markets, confusion often arises without copying, deception, or misleading conduct by traders. Instead, it often arises from …

Privatizing College Athletics: Using An Llc To Govern College Sports, Melinda Roth

SMU Law Review

In April 2025, the University of Kentucky, a member of one of the most powerful conferences in college sports, created Champions Blue, LLC. The board of trustees approved the transfer of Kentucky’s collegiate athletics operation into this new entity. A few months later, the University of Utah similarly created a limited liability company (LLC) to house its athletics program, though Utah’s model also incorporated a private equity investor into the LLC. Other schools, including Boise State, Clemson, Michigan State, Texas Tech, and West Virginia, among others, have also recently formed LLCs or formed partnerships with a private entity to hold …

Seeing Is Believing? Deepfakes In Financial Markets, Hadar Y. Jabotinsky, Michal Lavi

Cardozo Arts & Entertainment Law Journal

An AI-powered tool recently mimicked Warren Buffett's image and voice so convincingly that even his own family could have been deceived. This striking example highlights the transformative potential of voice cloning and deepfakes. This innovative technology leverages artificial intelligence (AI) to create hyper-realistic audio and video content. By blurring the boundaries between authenticity and synthetic creation, deepfakes make it possible to fabricate moments that never occurred. Recent advancements in AI and user-friendly software have made deepfakes more accessible andfurther contributed to the proliferation of deepfakes, enabling even individuals with minimal technical skills to produce compelling deepfakes at little to no …

Power Play: The Battle For Copyright Control In Emulation, Ryan Borja

Cardozo Arts & Entertainment Law Journal

The note argues that the current legal framework prioritizes commercial interests and developer rights over the preservation of older video games. To reconcile the tension between copyright protection and the public interest in cultural preservation, the analysis proposes legislative solutions such as compulsory licensing schemes or the creation of a dedicated federal preservation agency.

Some Respect Reserved? Survey Experiment Insights On The Perception Of Creative Commons And Copyright Infringement, Thomas H. Rousse

Cardozo Arts & Entertainment Law Journal

Since its inception, Creative Commons has introduced new ways for creators to grant licenses to the public without cost or the need for negotiation by breaking up rights provided by copyright and making a subset of those rights available to anyone willing to abide by the conditions of the license. Its widespread adoption has democratized open licensing for creators beyond the software context these licenses originated within. Although the success of Creative Commons as a community is plain, relatively little information is available about its perception by the general public. Aggressive litigation by Creative Commons licensors has put the organization …

The Devil Is In The Det[Ai]Ls: Ai Agents, Ghost Students, And The Crisis Of Verified Presence In An Agentic Ai World, Aras Bozkurt, Helen Crompton, Caroline Fell Kurban

STEMPS Faculty Publications

The transition from reactive Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) to agentic AI systems marks a categorical shift in digital education, moving beyond simple content generation to goal-oriented, autonomous execution. This paper explores the emergence of the “ghost student”: a digital surrogate created by the coupling of Large Language Models (the “mind”) and agentic AI browsers (the “body”). These entities are capable of navigating Learning Management Systems (LMS), engaging with content, and completing assessments with human-like mimicry, often rendering the actual learner’s presence optional. We argue that this phenomenon creates a verification gap that traditional proctoring and detection tools are structurally unable …

Disaster Risk Management During Climate Emergencies In The Dominican Republic And Puerto Rico, Rosleny Ubinas

Dissertations and Theses

This paper analyzes the DRM approach as an effective framework in addressing climate emergencies across the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico. These two Caribbean regions, with high hurricane exposure and differing response structures, are deeply shaped by their governments and affiliated international organizations. Disaster Risk Management is the systematic process of using laws, plans, institutions, and community networks to reduce vulnerability to hazards and coordinate effective response when disasters occur. It covers the full cycle, from prevention to reconstruction and rebuilding more resiliently. The Dominican Republic’s law-based intervention led to greater local-level community participation during disasters with its embedded volunteer …

Regulating Space-Based Solar Power: Challenges Under Both Space Law And Energy Law, Anne-Sophie Martin, Steven Freeland

Journal of Air Law and Commerce

Space-based solar power (SBSP) is emerging as a potential catalyst for global decarbonisation, driven by advances in wireless power transmission, in-orbit assembly, and photovoltaic technologies. Programmes such as the European Space Agency’s SOLARIS initiative, China’s planned megawatt-scale demonstrator, and private projects including Constant Aperture Solid State Integrated Orbital Phased Array and Caltech’s Space Solar Power Project illustrate the shift from theoretical models to operationalisation. SBSP offers continuous, weather-independent renewable energy capable of complementing terrestrial solar, wind, and hydro generation, enhancing grid stability, energy security, and progress toward the UN Sustainable Development Goals. It also supports future space activities by providing …

Colorado, Eli Miller, Elizabeth Witting, Lexi Lecroy

Water Law Review

Franktown Citizens Coal. II, Inc. v. Indep. Water and Sanitation Dist., 567 P.3d 121 (Colo. 2025)Town of Firestone v. BCL Colorado LP (In re Water Rts. Of Town of Firestone), 569 P.3d 89 (Colo. 2025)Baker v. Safadi-Chamberlain, 575 P.3d 458 (Colo. App. 2025)

Audit Guides And The Administrative State, Joshua D. Blank, Leigh Osofsky

Faculty Publications

Scholars are engaged in deep debate about the transformative power of recent Supreme Court cases that appear to limit the role of agencies in making rules of law. In Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo and West Virginia v. EPA, the Supreme Court overruled a longstanding doctrine of judicial deference to agency rules and prescribed more boundaries around the scope of such rules. Scholars have debated to what extent these changes will usher in new forms of judicial review that will transfer power from agencies to the courts.

This Article argues that this debate misses important elements of where agency …

Gendered Words And Patent Grant Rates: A Textual Analysis, Deborah R. Gerhardt, Miriam Marcowitz-Bitton, W. Michael Schuster, Avshalom Elmalech, Omri Suissa, Moshe Mash

Faculty Publications

Text is a vehicle to convey information that reflects the writer’s linguistic style and communication patterns. By studying these attributes, we can discover latent insights about the author and their underlying message. This article uses such an approach to better understand patent applications and their inventors.

While prior research focuses on patent metadata (i.e., filing year or gendered inventor names), we employ machine learning and natural language processing to extract hidden information from the words in patent applications. Through these methods, we find that inventor gender can often be identified from textual attributes—even without knowing the inventor’s name. This ability …

Who's Afraid Of Copyright And Ai?, Deborah R. Gerhardt

Faculty Publications

Copyright and AI need not be a copyright no man’s land. Recent decisions by the Copyright Office have gotten so much media attention that many creators are unsure if they can secure copyright protection if they use AI as a creative tool. The proposed creative control paradigm can help us all tackle the challenge of determining when works created with the assistance of AI are copyrightable. Instead of relying on long-established nuanced precedent for protecting works generated with new technology, the Copyright Office asserts that any content generated with assistance from AI tools is unprotectable. This position is radically inconsistent …

Ecowas: The Little Human Rights Organization That Could, Thomas Kelley

Faculty Publications

Part I of this Article provides a detailed description of the origins of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS). Part II describes its transformation from a sleepy trade bloc to a dynamic peace and security and human rights enforcement institution. Part III examines arguments about whether ECOWAS’s aggressive human rights enforcement is or is not legal under international law. Part IV summarizes developments in West Africa after ECOWAS created its robust peace and security and human rights enforcement architecture, concluding that, until the recent crisis in the Sahel States, it has been extremely effective despite the scant resources. …

Religious Freedom Without Material Autonomy: Property Dispossession And The Containment Of Religion In Socialist Macedonia, 1945-1958, Aleksandar Spasenovski

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

This article examines the relationship between religious freedom and property rights in socialist Macedonia within Yugoslavia between 1945 and 1958. It argues that the formal constitutional recognition of religious freedom did not necessarily guarantee the institutional autonomy of religious communities. Through a legal-historical analysis of federal Yugoslav and Macedonian legislation, implementing regulations, and administrative mechanisms, the article shows how agrarian reform, nationalization of private economic enterprises, expropriation, and the nationalization of rental buildings and construction land progressively reduced the material foundations of religious organizations. The central claim is that property was one of the clearest indicators of the practical scope …

Allied Professionals In (Academic) Law Libraries, Part I: Evolving Roles, Skills, And Professional Development Needs, Sarah E. Ryan, Mads Ball, Agnes G. Pearcy, Diana Quinones, Dawn L. Smith

Library Staff Publications

Allied professionals comprise a significant portion of the law library workforce, yet their experiences and career pathways are often overlooked in discussions about the profession’s future. This article presents findings from a survey examining how allied professionals pursue professional development, upskilling, and career mobility. While respondents demonstrated a strong commitment to growth, opportunities varied widely and were often limited by institutional support. The authors discuss the survey findings, explore the implications for the profession, and offer recommendations for better supporting allied professionals and recognizing their essential contributions to law librarianship. This is the first in a two-part series.

The Idea Of Air, Jonathan Skinner-Thompson

Publications

How we view air, especially clean air, has meaningful normative and practical implications. Today, it is commonly recognized as an exhaustible natural resource. But air was not always thought of as something to be conserved, developed, and used. This Article is the first to explore and interrogate that view.

The shift to seeing air as a resource started in the first part of the twentieth century. Previously, air was characterized by its limitless supply of oxygen: a pure public good. Over time, the quality of that good changed, and a precious resource emerged. That resource—especially its chemical and physical characteristics—inspired …