ASU Center Bridging the Gap Between Science and Law - A Comprehensive Look

Summary

Science and law have long been viewed as disparate topics, but the Arizona State Center for Law, Science & Innovation is pioneering a unique approach to their intersection. The Center is a joint project between Arizona State University's Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law and Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering. It is one of the few academic and research institutions in the world devoted to the convergence of science and law. The Center focuses on how to apply scientific evidence in legal proceedings and how to use the law to protect technological innovations.


At the Center, students and faculty explore the various facets of science and law by examining the application and impact of scientific evidence in the courtroom. They also evaluate the relevance of intellectual property law and its implications for the development of new technology. The Center's research covers a wide range of topics, from biotechnology, aerospace, nanotechnology, and the Internet to environmental and energy law.

The Center's research studies, seminars, and conferences provide a platform for students and faculty to exchange ideas and explore new concepts related to science and law. The Center also serves as a link between the legal and scientific communities, fostering collaboration and exchange of ideas. Additionally, the Center provides faculty and students with the opportunity to develop and implement creative solutions to legal and technical problems.

The Center helps to bridge the gap between law and science, providing students and professionals with new opportunities to explore the often overlooked connections between the two fields. The Center also works to ensure that the legal system takes into account the latest scientific developments in a wide variety of areas.

The Arizona State Center for Law, Science & Innovation is a unique joint venture that seeks to bring together the legal and scientific communities. The Center's research and events explore the relationship between science and law, and how to best use scientific evidence and intellectual property law to develop and protect technology. Through its events and research, the Center offers a platform to exchange ideas, network, and foster collaboration between the scientific and legal communities. The Center also provides students and professionals with new opportunities to understand and explore the importance of science and law.
 

Exploring the Convergence of Science and Law at Arizona State Center

Arizona State Center for Law, Science, and Innovation is leading the way in forging a connection between the legal and scientific realms. Established in the fall of 2018, the center is focusing on advancing the role that science plays in the legal system by creating a platform where the two realms can come together and collaborate on furthering creativity and innovation in judicial spaces.

The goal of the Arizona State Center for Law, Science, and Innovation (ASCLSI) is to develop a platform that combines a wide spectrum of scientific research with legal reasoning to provide a comprehensive approach to problem-solving. Through this platform, ASCLSI has been exploring the connection between science and law and how the two realms can converge to produce solutions to emerging legal issues.

Not only is the ASCLSI looking to bridge the gap between legal and scientific fields, but it is also focused on the development of evidence-based interventions and approaches to legal issues. Through the use of advanced scientific research and analysis, the center is helping to revolutionize the legal system and create more efficient solutions to complex legal issues.

The ASCLSI's main focus is to explore the implications of science and law on the judicial system and develop research-based solutions to emerging legal problems. With the implementation of this platform, the center is working to create a new era of legal problem-solving, based on evidence-based interventions and analyses.

By investigating the convergence of science and law, ASCLSI has developed a wide range of initiatives that aim to advance the understanding of legal issues through an evidence-based approach. The center has conducted research into legal issues such as medical malpractice, environmental law, and corporate governance to explore the implications of science and law on judicial decisions.

Students take a lead role here too. It is "very much a student- and faculty-run center," says Executive Director, Professor Gary Marchant. There are 30 law students, in fact, who contribute ideas to the center's direction. Ten students from each class are selected each year to be Center Scholars. Each receives $1,000, a seat at meetings, and roles in conference planning and research assistant positions.

The center also hosts the peer-reviewed journal Jurimetrics, the journal for the ABA section on science law. And next year, the center and the law school will start the first LL.M. program in the nation in Biotechnology and Genomics. Marchant will head the program, which will include intellectual property law, biotechnology law, and forensics, among other topics.

Currently, there are 81 Arizona State J.D. students pursuing specialization certificates through the center, says Marchant. There are five specialty certificate programs: general law and science, health, biotechnology, intellectual property, and environmental law. Many students involved with the center have advanced degrees in the sciences, says Marchant, but "it is also exciting to see those who do not who are interested in the field" of science and law, he says.

The center hosts conferences every semester, including the Sixth International Conference on Forensic Statistics, which was held last week. This was the sixth meeting of this conference in 18 years and the first at Arizona State. Top international experts in the field came to present new research illuminating the growing study of how scientific evidence—such as DNA—can be used in courts and to what effect.

From global to local, the law center last fall hosted a conference called the Wildlife Water Development Workshop. Primarily for government agency officials, this conference was a follow-up session seven years ago, examining the impact of providing artificial water sources to wildlife. Participants discussed the issue and its intersection among policy, law, and science.

Not long ago, science and law rarely overlapped, says Professor Andrew Askland, Director of the center. Now, science is far more involved in a wide range of legal cases, he says, citing the Chakrabarty case of 1980, allowing for patenting of natural things (a modified bacteria), thus opening up the doors for patenting of genetic material.

Marchant concurs that there is a great need for lawyers who know science. Many firms represent technology companies or are involved in IP matters. Marchant, who has a Ph.D. in Genetics, was on the hiring committee for a large national law firm. "We were always looking for people who understood technology and law," he says.

Many law schools have science and law centers and/or specialty certificate programs—Boalt Hall has one for environmental law; Emory, for IP, for example. Not many law schools, however, have one center for several scientific topics together.

Accommodating all approaches to science, as well as a wide variety of legal inquiry, is a strength of the Arizona State center, says Askland. It encourages interdisciplinary scholarship. Also, there are benefits for students' legal careers that come from a multifaceted approach.

"No single thing in law school will get you that job," says Askland. Each aspect of a student's work is like "an arrow in your quiver… and you want as much in there as possible." Having a specialty certificate is one strong "arrow," he says.

On a larger scale, Askland says, it is good for a lawyer to know the issues that sit next to his/her specialty. An environmental lawyer, for example, may be working with a client whose issues intersect with IP law and health law. Having access to all these fields under one roof serves students well.

The range of topics covered at the center is good on both theoretical and practical levels, says third-year law student and Center Scholar Kindra Deneau. Separating the disciplines into separate groups might make them compete for funding, she points out. Since all scientific fields are important, it would not be fair to prioritize one over another, she says. On a scholarly level, it is good to have science and legal study moving forward collaboratively instead of competitively.

The wide range of topics covered by the center are tied together well by the journal Jurimetrics, says law student Amelia Morrow, Executive Editor of the journal and Center Scholar, also in her third year.

The center "bridges so many different disciplines," says Laura Lawless, another Center Scholar who is pursuing a specialization certificate in health law. Having a range of topics at the center allows for dialogue among them, she says. The center's not having one sole focus will allow her, she says, to provide "more dynamic representation for clients" in her future work.

Another manifestation of the interdisciplinary center is a course in mental health law—and the students who are taking it. The eight-student class, Lawless says, includes herself, one person with a child-advocacy focus, another with an interest in criminal law, and one who wants to learn about mental health issues in trusts and estates law. This mix is "amazing," she says, and demonstrates the wide range of legal arenas impacted by this one scientific topic.