Berkeley Law professors are prolific, insightful scholars with broad and significant influence felt well beyond the school’s walls through their research, legal advocacy, policymaking and commentary.
New Research
Questioning ‘Golden Ticket’ Bankruptcy
In a recent article in the Emory Bankruptcy Developments Journal, Professor Kenneth Ayotte and Alex Zhicheng Huang, a Robbins J.S.D. Fellow, analyze how “debtor-in-possession” (DIP) loans, which are intended to help a company finance its bankruptcy case, are effectively reorganization plans in disguise.Wexler Gives Senate Testimony
Professor Rebecca Wexler recently testified before the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on Criminal Justice and Counterterrorism at a hearing on the use of artificial intelligence in criminal investigations and prosecutions. “Although AI tools present exciting opportunities to render the legal system more accurate and equitable in some respects, they also, in their current form and use, present troubling obstacles to fair and open proceedings,” she told senators.A Path to Regulating AI
In a recent Politico op-ed, Professor Tejas N. Narechania and co-author Ganesh Sitaraman argue that the same regulatory levers governments already use to govern utilities and other essential services should be a template for new rules for the burgeoning AI sector. The biggest companies now pouring money into AI — including Amazon, Google, and Microsoft — have all been sued for anticompetitive tactics, Narechania and Sitarmaran write, and are “poised to control” a broad new swath of innovation.Probing Patent Law History
Professor Robert Merges’ latest book, American Patent Law: A Business and Economic History, offers a comprehensive recounting of the U.S. patent system from 1790, with an emphasis on how patents have been used by private enterprise for the pursuit of business goals.A Tribute to Lauren Edelman
Law & Society Review, the publication of the Law & Society Association, published a special memorial issue to honor Professor Lauren Edelman ’86, who died in February. Edelman was deeply involved with the interdisciplinary organization for sociolegal scholars, and served as its president in 2002-03. Several of the works were written by Edelman’s faculty colleagues and former students, including Diana Reddy, who joined our faculty this summer.