Pictured here are the Honors students from the 2021-2022 cohort.
The 18th annual Lauren Edelman Legal Studies Honors Research Conference showcases original empirical research from undergraduate scholars in the Legal Studies Honors Program. The Honors theses presented have been developed over the 2023-2024 academic year via a sequence of two research seminars and with the support of dedicated faculty mentors. The conference is an opportunity to recognize and celebrate the impressive work accomplished by these promising young scholars. The annual Legal Studies undergraduate research conference is dedicated to the memory of our beloved professor, Lauren Edelman, who was the Honors Program Director for many years.
May 2, 2025, 10am - 4pm, Selznick Seminar Room, 2240 Piedmont
10:00am-10:20am
Opening Remarks, Dylan Penningroth and Jon Marshall
10:20-11:30am
Panel 1: Law as a Dynamic Social Institution
Moderator: Gunar Olsen
Lily Button, “Crypto Consciousness: Stakeholder Perspectives on Cryptocurrency
Regulation”
Anthony Cusguen, “Exigen demasiado, pero dan lo menos”: Undocumented Nannies
Navigating Rights Violations and Injury”
Levi Cannon, “Defining Custody Resolution: How Parent Coordinators Construct Family
Law”
Jayden Hill, “Beyond Sport: Navigating the intersection of reproductive restrictions and
collegiate athletics in the post-Roe landscape”
11:30am-12:30pm
Panel 2: Social Inequalities in Criminal Legal Systems
Moderator: Rachel Wallace
Ruby Chan-Frey, “Just Math”? The Coproduction of Racial Bias in Criminal Legal Data
As Seen Through Actuarial Risk Assessments
Nouhamin Leoulekal, “Unequal Justice, Reluctant Reform: How Community Legal Aid
Fills the State’s Gaps in Post-Conviction Relief”
Serena Zhang, ““Between Punishment and Reform: Legal Consciousness and Online
Discourse on Juvenile Justice in Contemporary China”
12:30pm-1:30pm
Lunch Break
1:30pm-2:30pm
Panel 3: The Politics of Language and Rights
Moderator: TJ Mertikas
Ethan Joseph, “Along the River Everywhere is Megetohl: Language Revitalization and
Sovereignty in the Yurok Tribe”
Caitlyn Wilt, “Missing the Goal with a Political Football: Linguistic Rights in the North of
Ireland”
Tristan Worsham, “Liberty of Conscience and Religious Exemption in New York,
1664-1777“
2:30pm-3:40pm
Panel 4: Legal Change – Contestation, Migration, and Diffusion
Moderator: Anthony Ghaly
Léa-Cassiopée Muller, “They Live With Us”: Reframing Transitional Justice to Address
Sexual Violence in Occupied Territories”
Anita Chinwuba, “Beyond Capital: A Cross-Cultural Analysis of the Pursuit of Property in
the Black Diaspora”
Helena Wu , “The Diffusion of Special Economic Zones Laws in China”
Rena Lu, “Will the Last American to Leave Monterey Park Please Bring the Flag?”: The
Spatialization of Difference in “Suburban Chinatown”
Closing Remarks