Faculty Activities

Podcast: Consent is a concept at the center of criminal law and sexual assault. So, why is it so difficult to accurately define? Sexual assault laws have evolved from requiring the victim to resist toward requiring consent. However, "consent" is defined in many ways. In this episode, two experts on the topic, Criminal Law Professor Aya Gruber and AEquitas Co-Founder and CEO Jennifer Long, discuss and debate the potential for success and failure of implementing an "affirmative consent" requirement, how we now understand that there is no expected behavior during or after a sexual assault, and how important is to treat every case individually.

Professor Andrew Schwartz spoke on "Corporate Responsibility: Maximizing Shareholder Benefit v. Social Justice" at the Federalist Society's Executive Branch Review Conference May 8 in Washington, D.C.

Associate Professor Kristelia García will moderate a panel presentation, "Content in a Multiplatform World and Related Legal Issues," with executives from HBO and AT&T at the 17th Annual Rocky Mountain Intellectual Property & Technology Law Institute, May 30-31.

Harry Surden and Margot Kaminski, associate professors at the University of Colorado Law School, are leaders in exploring the future of AI and how technologies using computer-based decision making offer major prospects for breakthroughs in the law—and how those decisions are regulated. They are organizing a May 3 conference titled "Explainable Artificial Intelligence: Can We Hold Machines Accountable?"

Associate Professor Margot Kaminski participated in a Federal Trade Commission (FTC) hearing focused on the FTC’s approach to consumer privacy April 9-10, 2019. Kaminski spoke on a panel about current approaches to privacy and compare how various jurisdictions have enacted laws that address privacy risks, including federal law, European law (through the General Data Protection Regulation, or GDPR), and state laws—both enacted and proposed.

When people think about artificial intelligence, or AI, they can be quick to jump to the all-too-common sci-fi depiction of a heartlessly rational computer willing to kill people to fulfill its programming. Real AI is lightyears away from that. Today, AI is still pretty far from basic things humans can accomplish, like being able to grasp abstract concepts, according to Harry Surden, a University of Colorado Law School professor and AI expert.

Associate Professor Margot Kaminski delivered the 11th Annual Judge Stephanie K. Seymour Distinguished Lecture in Law, "Binary Governance: A Two-Part Approach to Accountable Algorithms," at the University of Tulsa College of Law on Feb. 21.

Dean S. James Anaya has appointed Associate Professor Harry Surden interim executive director of Colorado Law's Silicon Flatirons Center for Law, Technology, and Entrepreneurship.

Associate Professor Scott Skinner-Thompson presented his paper, "Recording as Heckling," at the St. John's University School of Law faculty workshop series on Feb. 6. The series brings scholars from across the country to St. John's Law to discuss their current research and receive feedback on their works in progress.

Speaking on behalf of the United Nations Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (EMRIP), of which she serves as the North American member and vice chair, Council Tree Professor of Law Kristen Carpenter delivered a statement about indigenous languages to the U.N. General Assembly in New York on Feb. 1.