Series of Empirical Legal Research
Session One: Alan Kluegel
Assistant Professor of Law
University of Kentucky
J. David Rosenberg College of Law
Title: Networks and the Law
Date: Feb. 17th at 12:00 PM (E.T.)
Network analysis is a methodological tool for identifying, explaining, and visualizing connections between actors in a particular field. The legal world is fertile ground for such analysis, as it is filled with such connections -- whether they come through citations in legal opinions, cross-references in statutes, or collaboration between attorneys. My presentation will go over the basics of network analysis and its applications in both doctrinal and sociolegal research.
Professor Alan James Kluegel joined the law faculty as an Assistant Professor in Fall 2020. His research interests include corporate law, the legal profession, and the empirical study of law.
Professor Kluegel's scholarship applies empirical methods -- including network analysis, hierarchical and longitudinal models, and formal modeling -- to explore the behavior of lawyers, courts, and policymakers. Professor Kluegel's dissertation modeled the network structure of the large law firm and explored the factors that influence law firm growth and survival. He has most recently published in the Annual Review of Law and Social Science on the interaction between organizational theory and theories of the legal profession.
Professor Kluegel received his B.A. in Sociology and English from the University of Illinois, his J.D. from Georgetown University, and his Ph.D. in Jurisprudence and Social Policy from the University of California, Berkeley. At Berkeley, he received the Outstanding Graduate Student Instructor award and the Daniel E. Koshland, Jr. Art of Teaching Writing Fellowship. Prior to joining the UK Rosenberg College of Law, Professor Kluegel was a Visiting Assistant Professor at the University of Illinois College of Law, where he was twice voted onto the List of Teachers Ranked as Excellent by their Students. In between his lengthy stints as a student, he practiced corporate law for Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP in New York and Gilbert LLP in Washington, DC, and clerked for the Honorable Marianne O. Battani of the Eastern District of Michigan.
Session Two: Katri Nousiainen
Resident Research Fellow, Harvard Law School in the Program on Negotiation (PON)
Hanken School of Economics (Finland)
Quantum Road Map
Date: April 14th at 12:00 PM (E.T.)
Quantum technologies have the potential to revolutionize the employment of technology. Quantum possibilities such as computing are no longer far away in the future - the new era has already begun! For instance, we have possibly achieved quantum advantage recently and the most interesting applications are around the corner. The aim of the discussion is to give a general overview of the quantum future within the framework of law, economics, and society. The focus will be on commercial applications employing quantum innovations, such as materials discovery, banking and finance, intellectual property rights, advanced manufacturing, life science discoveries/innovations, and contracting. We will further discuss the application to climate change, security, and defense, as well as quantum within the legal design framework. It is intended to understand the quantum impact on the application and practice of law and the working of societies - both on the national and international level. Consequently, quantum progress brings up several open legal and ethical questions that call for awareness, analysis and action!
Nousiainen is a Lawyer and Professional in Legal Education. She holds a European Master in Law and Economics (EMLE)LL.M, a Master Universitario di primo livello, a Master d’Analyse Economique du Droit et des Institutions, and a BA in Law. She is known for her articles and book chapters on Commercial Contracts and Legal Design and on Law & Technology, especially related Quantum Technologies. In her work, she supports and assists companies and other operators in improving the quality and efficiency of their legal processes, products and services within the tools and methods of law & tech, innovation, and legal design. Currently she holds a Resident Research Fellow position at the Harvard Law School in the Program on Negotiation (PON). In addition to her work at the Harvard Law School, she is also affiliated with the Hanken School of Economics (Finland) and the University of Cambridge Law (the UK). Before joining Harvard, she was affiliated with the University of Berkeley Law, Center for Law and Technology (BCLT) and with the Aix-Marseille School of Economics. Presently she is pioneering research projects on The Impact and Value of Legal Design in Commercial Contracting in Law and Economics Framework as well as on Law & Quantum Technologies.
Session Three: Florencia Marotta-Wurgler
Boxer Family Professor of Law
Faculty Director, NYU Law in Buenos Aires
Empirical Legal Research: Using Data to Create a Robust Research Pipeline
Date: April 28th at 12:00 PM (E.T.)
Using examples from consumer contracts and online privacy, this discussion will focus on strategies to conduct empirical legal research and develop a research agenda. Topics will include creating a data set and leveraging it to answer unexplored questions, developing meaningful methodologies to address legal questions, building on existing work to develop a robust research agenda, and engaging the process of automation and scaling up to develop large-scale data sets using machine learning approaches.
Florencia Marotta-Wurgler focuses on contracts, consumer privacy, consumer law, electronic commerce, empirical legal studies, and law and economics. Her research has studied consumer contracts and privacy policies online, such as whether disclosure and information privacy regimes are effective and whether people read fine print. She has participated in FTC hearings and testified before the US Senate. She is a co-reporter of the American Law Institute’s Restatement of the Law of Consumer Contracts, a member of the Scientific Advisory Board of the Max Planck Institute for Research on Collective Goods, and a former member of the board of directors of the American Law and Economics Association. She serves as the Director of the Study Abroad program in Buenos Aires at NYU School of Law, where she is also a fellow at the Engelberg Center and an affiliated faculty member at the Birnbaum Women’s Leadership Network. Professor Marotta-Wurgler received a BA with honors from the University of Pennsylvania and a JD cum laude from the NYU School of Law.
