Welcome to My Digital Portfolio!
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Welcome to My Digital Portfolio! *
This selection of scholarly writings aptly highlights my:
Longstanding Passion for Business, Technology, and the Law
Deep Understanding of Complex Legal and Technological Issues
Advanced Analytical Skills and Deft Application of Reason
Unwavering Ability to Communicate Clearly and Effectively
Keen Attention to Detail, and
(Occasionally) Even My Characteristic Wry Sense of Humor
I invite you to READ ON, and hope you ENJOY all of the documents you review! Please feel free to contact me with any questions, feedback, or requests for additional examples of my work. I truly look forward to hearing from you!
*Click on photos to download a complete copy of each featured document.
When Attorneys Hire Chatbots: Ethical Implications
An essay on the ethical considerations inherent to technology adoption by attorneys in light of the obligations outlined in the Model Professional Code of Conduct.
“Attorneys today need technology, and many of their clients expect them to have it. But, along with the advantages technology can provide come important questions about compliance with professional ethics.”
“Importantly, the duty of competence also expressly requires attorneys to maintain sufficient knowledge and skill in the use of relevant legal technologies, including an awareness of associated risks and benefits.”
“Well-written chatbots are undoubtedly capable of delivering accurate legal advice based on factual inputs from a client. But even the most sophisticated chatbot is not likely to be capable of considering unspecified non-legal factors as part of a legal analysis.”
“The nature and significance of attorney-client communications is such that attorneys must first ensure chatbots conform with applicable ethical standards if they hope to reap any practical benefits from their use.”
A Consise Case for Codification of Constitutional Privacy Protections
An argument for appropriate legislation to address the Constitutional privacy concerns that often arise with the introduction of new technology.
“Legal scholars observe that Fourth Amendment search and seizure protections based on physical property rights are difficult to apply to the virtual, technology-based privacy concerns of the twenty-first century.”
“Statutory codification of technology-based search and seizure law and privacy expectations founded on the Fourth Amendment principles and cases like Katz may be a viable alternative to a protracted, case-by-case evolution of search jurisprudence.”
“Law makers may continue to benefit from the counsel of justices like Taft, Sotomayor, and Alito. Their opinions emphasize that as new technologies emerge and individual expectations of privacy evolve, it is still imperative to assure the same level of protection against government intrusion as ‘existed when the Fourth Amendment was adopted.’”
The IoT Offers Substantial Benefits for Criminal Law
An overview of the potential lawful and beneficials uses of Internet of Things evidence in criminal cases.
“Some legal scholars believe that technological evidence like IoT data has the same capacity as DNA evidence to exclude parties from suspicion, establish innocence, or exonerate defendants wrongfully convicted and imprisoned.”
“Sophisticated artificial intelligence (AI) could use voice, video, and biometric information sent from an IoT home assistant to establish that a violent crime is likely imminent or in progress.”
“Absent from most scholarly discussions is a thorough, substantive analysis of the significant potential advantages represented by advanced digital technologies like the IoT in a criminal law context.”
“When an opportunity to define clear guidelines for the use of IoT evidence arises, courts should weigh the many benefits of its use just as carefully as they consider the risks.”
Criminology, Genealogy & Constitutionality
An examination of Constitutional questions surrounding the use of familial DNA in criminal investigations.
“The genetic information stored in DTC databases is far more extensive in quantity and character than the DNA stored in state and federal governmental databases.”
“DTC DNA is more readily accessible, more invasive, less reliable, and more dangerous than the genetic information stored in highly regulated databases like the FBI's Combined DNA Index System (“CODIS”).”
“One company of many that assists law enforcement with IGG investigations, Parabon, reported that it was directly responsible for affirmatively identifying more than 200 individual criminal suspects or victims between 2018 and 2021 using these innovative genetic genealogy techniques.”
“Unless and until much needed sui generis laws are created that directly address this nuanced legal issue, it will remain unclear whether individual privacy rights have been infringed by the continued unrestrained and warrantless identification of unknown suspects using identifying information contained within DTC genetic databases.”
The Tragedy of the Shamans
A report on the history of exploitation of endangered Plant Genetic Resources (“PGR”) and associated Traditional Indigenous Knowledge (“TIK”) in lesser-developed nations with suggestions for a legally sound path forward.
“Since ancient times, human beings have extracted effective natural remedies from the biological resources around them.”
“Biodiverse PGRs and associated TIK have cultural, environmental, and scientific significance for all people, especially the indigenous peoples who have served as their custodians since before recorded history.”
“Rather than allowing indigenous peoples in less-developed nations to suffer the unjustified loss of their habitats and heritage, the law must facilitate equity and opportunity.”
“Newly empowered indigenous peoples may play an integral role in the preservation and protection of TIK, PGRs, and the environment, and shamans may continue to collaborate in useful ethnobotanical research, but as equals.”
Comparative Review of Legal Systems - Vietnam and the United States
An objective comparison of the divergent legal systems of two very different modern nations, with the ultimate goal of increasing understanding of the law and culture of both.
“The application of increased scrutiny to all court cases naturally increases the likelihood that public and private bad actors will be identified and tried for any crimes they commit. This increased probability of discovery also serves as an effective deterrent to commission of future crimes.”
“Specialized subject matter familiarity permits appellate courts to develop a high level of proficiency in a particular area of the law. . . A court that specializes in only one area of law need only continuously monitor rapidly changing legislation that falls within the boundaries of their specialty area. This arrangement not only lends credence to the courts’ decisions, specialization also delivers valuable time and resource efficiencies that the general jurisdiction appellate courts of the United States cannot easily replicate.”
“Possibly in recognition of the need for increased judicial constancy, Vietnam has very recently begun to recognize the use of “guiding cases” by the Supreme People’s Court to construct positive legal statements which suggest how lower courts may apply the law to specific cases.”
Dealing, with Feeling | Emotion in Negotiation
A statement on the inseparability of emotion from the negotiation process and how a skilled negotiator may use awareness of the role of feelings in decision-making to deliver the most advantageous solutions.
“People tend to believe they are supremely rational beings and that, because they have such an elevated capacity for analytical thought, reason is the primary driver of their decision-making process.”
“The sluggish and deliberate rational mind takes all of its initial cues directly from the animal mind.”
“Logic is powerless to act without emotional input and impetus.”
“No human being ever makes a rational choice absent the prior receipt of information filtered first through the emotional, animal mind.”
“Skilled negotiators must not lament the inseparability of emotion from the negotiation process.”
The Ballad of Blackacre:
A Property Law Lamentation
A piece of “punny” property law poetry designed either as an aid to understanding The Rule Against Perpetuties, or to distract from the trials of being a 1L.
Maybe it can be both?
(You decide.)
“Oh, what a tale to
Contemplate -
How O conveyed
A life estate
In Blackacre
Unto A
And how that interest
Went away.
O, he meant well,
Certainly
But he conveyed it
Carelessly. . .”