Unlock Your Path to Law and Science: What You Need & What You Don't Need to Pursue a Career in Arizona State Law

Summary

Arizona State Law students are gaining a unique opportunity to explore their passion for law and science by joining the newly formed Law and Science Scholars program. With the help of this program, students can gain a comprehensive understanding of the intersection between the two fields.


The Law and Science Scholars program is a collaboration between the Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law and the School of Molecular Sciences at Arizona State University. The program aims to embrace the synergistic potential of science and law by offering students an integrated learning curriculum composed of legal and scientific courses.

This program is also intended to develop well-rounded students who can successfully tackle the most challenging issues of the 21st century. The combination of scientific knowledge and legal acumen is necessary to develop effective solutions for society's pressing issues.

In order to be admitted to the program, students must demonstrate an aptitude for science and an interest in pursuing a legal career. They must also complete two specific law classes and two related scientific classes.

The program also offers a range of elective courses that span the law-science spectrum. These courses include topics such as energy law, information law, and biotechnology and society. In addition, law-science scholars take part in various workshops and networking events with academics and professionals.

By utilizing the Law and Science Scholars program, Arizona State Law students can gain a cutting-edge education that can help prepare them for the hybridized legal field of the future. This program will provide students with a comprehensive understanding of the intersection between scientific, legal, and societal concerns. With an education that embraces the concept of law and science, these scholars will be prepared to tackle the 21st century's most pressing issues.
 

Why Law and Science?

At Arizona State University's Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law, the students of the law and science program are undertaking a new venture that highlights the importance of law and science. The students are working together to produce a research-informed podcast that focuses on the overlapping perspectives of law and science.
 

A Marriage of Relevant Interests

Law and science have gone hand-in-hand for decades, spanning various different fields such as civil litigation, health law, and environmental protection. The pursuit of legal studies requires a deep understanding of science to ensure that the facts are accurate and the justice delivered is based upon reliable evidence.
 

Current Law and Science Podcast

The current podcast of the Arizona State University students is aptly titled “Law and Science: Show What You Know”. This podcast will give listeners an in-depth look at the law and science program and the research being conducted. It will explore the intersection of these two fields, including the fascinating stories of legal cases in which science has played a role.
 

Educating a New Generation

The students of the law and science program hope to make their research-informed podcast a part of a larger effort to educate a new generation of law students and other professionals in the importance of law and science. Through the podcast, they will provide insight into the intersection of law and science, as well as discuss the methods and techniques of research.
 

Educational Resources for Law and Science

The podcast will also provide various educational resources for those who are interested in learning more about the relationship between law and science. Listeners will gain information from legal scholars and professors from Arizona State University, as well as from experts from other universities across the United States. Furthermore, the podcast offers an opportunity for the students to showcase the knowledge and skills that they have acquired through their studies in the law and science program.

Law students involved with the Center for Study of Law, Science, and Technology at the College of Law, Arizona State University in Tempe, AZ, come from a wide variety of academic backgrounds. Some have advanced science degrees, and some do not.

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Third-year Kindra Deneau had an undergraduate degree in psychology from Arizona State when she applied to the law school. Now pursuing a certificate in intellectual property law, she says, "You can actually do something like this" without an advanced degree in science or engineering.

Laura Lawless, also in her third year, majored in psychopathology at Harvard as an undergrad and is working on her heath law certificate at Arizona State. Third-year Amelia Morrow, another Harvard grad, was a social studies major there and will receive her intellectual property certificate upon graduation this spring.

All three women are Center Scholars, a group of 30 law students chosen to advise the science and technology center on its programs and who get first choice of research assistantships and other opportunities at the center.

Deneau credits the high-caliber faculty at Arizona State Law with enabling students to thrive in the legal-scientific arena. Deneau says Professors Dennis Karjala, who specializes in copyright law, and Professor Michael Saks, who is an expert on evidence issues and also holds a Ph.D. in Psychology, exemplify this excellence.

The rapid evolution of technology and the ability of people to access art of all kinds fire Deneau's interest in copyright law. Protecting the work of artists while at the same time allowing them to express themselves without constantly monitoring possible copyright infringement "is intriguing to me," says Deneau.

The work that led Deneau to law school had nothing to do with copyrights. While an undergraduate, she studied the effect of parents' divorce on their children. Deneau was a co-author, with two professors, of a report showing that divorced men gave more money to their children's college educations than women did, when incomes were equalized. The report was considered by legislators weighing child-support laws in several states. Seeing her research applied to the law sparked her interest in law school, says Deneau.

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Morrow's primary law school interests in copyright issues and emerging computer technology stem from practical experience as well. As an undergraduate, she wrote her thesis on the impact of computer technology on a Boston community organization. After graduation, she worked for two years for an Internet start-up. Now, Morrow focuses on how the law would need to change along with advances in technology.
 

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After counseling victims of domestic abuse for a few years, Lawless trained paralegals and worked in New York law firms before applying to law school. After her first year of law school, she won a pageant and took a year off. As the 2002 Miss Arizona, she traveled around the state, advocating for greater access to mental health coverage in public heath care. "I was fascinated by the subject," says Lawless. Upon returning to law school, she is focusing on mental health law and public policy in her work towards a health law certificate.

One current project Lawless has is bringing in speakers for a conference on neuroscience and criminal responsibility to be held April 29 at the science and technology center. She is working with Professor Gary Marchant, the center's Executive Director, to put the conference together.

The conference will feature discussions of immediate and accessible topics, as well as more theoretical questions. One speaker will discuss how traumatic brain injury affects establishment of criminal responsibility. Another will look at whether sleepwalkers are legally responsible for their actions. Also, crime prevention will be examined ethically through the theoretical idea of a genetic marker showing a predisposition to criminal behavior.

The center allows for "a very applied approach to both science and law," says Lawless, giving both fields equal respect even when they are characteristically at odds—as evidenced by the tension caused by science's constant progress and the law's desire to slow progress in the interest of examining implications of scientific advances, she notes.

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After law school, Deneau will join the firm of Donald W. Hudspeth, P.C., in Phoenix, working with small business clients. Lawless will become an associate with Greenberg Traurig in Phoenix, doing employment and litigation work. Morrow will clerk for Justice Rebecca White Berch of the Arizona Supreme Court and then join Perkins Coie Brown & Bain's Phoenix office as a litigation associate.

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