Fowler Engineering Presents: Software Engineering and the Law

Speaker: Professor Tom Bell

Abstract: Why should software engineers care about the law? For lots of reasons, ranging from making it rich to keeping out of jail. This presentation will open with a quick overview of some of the most important legal issues that software engineers face today. The discussion will then focus on cryptocurrencies, DAOs, prediction markets, and other forms of decentralized finance.

Bio: Prof. Tom W. Bell earned a J.D. from the University of Chicago, practiced law in Silicon Valley and Washington, D.C., and served as a policy director for the Cato Institute before joining the faculty of Chapman University Fowler School of Law. He teaches all of the first-year common law courses and electives in high-tech, entertainment, and intellectual property. Bell writes about special jurisdictions, copyright, Internet law, prediction markets, and the Third Amendment (the one about quartering troops). He created Ulex, the open source legal system, used in Próspera ZEDE’s Roatán Common Law code and the Catawba Indian Nation’s Digital Economic Zone. Bell recently recorded an updated audio version of Your Next Government? From the Nation State to Stateless Nations (Cambridge University Press 2018). He serves as Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Special Jurisdictions and advises The Seasteading Institute (pro bono), Pronomos Capital, and Free Society Project, among others.