By Bob Needham
Michigan Law
The Law and Mobility Program is re-launching this year with an expanded focus and additional offerings for students—as well as a new research fellow to help put it all into practice.
The program started in 2018, largely focusing on issues related to autonomous vehicles. Now, Tifani Sadek, who became the program’s director two years ago, is substantially broadening the topics covered in the program.
“There are so many cool things going on in the transportation field,” said Sadek, a clinical assistant professor of law who is also co-director of the Zell Entrepreneurship Clinic. “Not just autonomous cars, but anything related to moving people and goods. That includes urban planning, aviation, and even commercial space travel.”
That approach also opens up the areas of law covered in the program, Sadek said. “This semester, we’re looking at a lot of environmental law. What are the environmental impacts of the technological changes that we’re seeing in transportation? Are they going to serve everyone? Are they going to make life worse for a certain group of people?
“I want to present the program in a way that students can see that it might be good for them, even if they’re not interested in the underlying technology.”
The heart of the program has traditionally been the “Journal of Law and Mobility,” and that remains a vital aspect. The program’s new research fellow, Matt Blaszczyk, is working on expanding the journal, Sadek said.
Beyond the journal, the program is introducing new curricular offerings.
Next semester, Sadek and Blaszczyk will teach a new class in autonomous vehicles and the law, which will be offered to a mix of law and engineering students.
One project that began last semester grew out of students’ wishes to sharpen their skills in legal Spanish: They are examining Latin American countries’ laws and regulations on autonomous vehicles and preparing a readiness assessment.
“These students weren’t necessarily interested in law and mobility, but now they’re getting to review laws and regulations in Spanish and learn about a regulatory system in another country. It’s a great project for us, and it’s a great project for them,” Sadek said.
Another new project, currently in the planning stages, is a speaker series geared to students that will bring in a variety of guests from across the transportation spectrum, Sadek said.
Finally, the program is placing a new emphasis on interdisciplinary research. One example that’s already under way is a collaboration with the University’s aerospace engineering department on the challenges posed by spaceports—hubs for commercial space activity that will be akin to airports.
“What’s the impact of this when you’re launching multiple times a week, in different areas with communities nearby? Is it making their life better or making their life worse?” Sadek asked. “There are a lot of problems that the engineers are worried about that actually have legal solutions or could have legal solutions. So the engineering students are going to present to the law students. Then we’re going to put our heads together, talk to experts, talk to faculty, and then go back and present to them on the legal considerations that they should be aware of.”
A key collaborator in these new initiatives is Blaszczyk, the program’s new research fellow.
A native of Poland, Blaszczyk holds a bachelor of laws (equivalent to a JD) from the Dickson Poon School of Law at King’s College London and an LLM from the Georgetown University Law Center. He comes to Michigan Law having published on law and technology in flagship and specialty journals in the United States and internationally.
The law and mobility fellowship attracted him because “Michigan itself is lovely, and there are many scholars that I admire who work here,” he said.
The program is a natural fit for his research interests, which include AI regulation, copyright, and antitrust.
“The broad spectrum of topics that we can cover within the umbrella of law and mobility is very appealing,” he said. “I can bring my research interests and apply them to something truly tangible.”
Blaszczyk hopes his time at Michigan Law will eventually lead to a position in legal academia. During the two-year fellowship, his two primary responsibilities are research—he already has several papers in progress for the Law and Mobility Program—and managing the “Journal of Law and Mobility.”
“I’m trying to solicit manuscripts from the biggest names in the field and establish the journal as a leading publication in its field,” he said.
“I’ll be working on several of my emerging technology law papers with a team of research assistants. I will get to meet the students, and hopefully tackle some of those very interesting problems together with them.”
Michigan Law
The Law and Mobility Program is re-launching this year with an expanded focus and additional offerings for students—as well as a new research fellow to help put it all into practice.
The program started in 2018, largely focusing on issues related to autonomous vehicles. Now, Tifani Sadek, who became the program’s director two years ago, is substantially broadening the topics covered in the program.
“There are so many cool things going on in the transportation field,” said Sadek, a clinical assistant professor of law who is also co-director of the Zell Entrepreneurship Clinic. “Not just autonomous cars, but anything related to moving people and goods. That includes urban planning, aviation, and even commercial space travel.”
That approach also opens up the areas of law covered in the program, Sadek said. “This semester, we’re looking at a lot of environmental law. What are the environmental impacts of the technological changes that we’re seeing in transportation? Are they going to serve everyone? Are they going to make life worse for a certain group of people?
“I want to present the program in a way that students can see that it might be good for them, even if they’re not interested in the underlying technology.”
The heart of the program has traditionally been the “Journal of Law and Mobility,” and that remains a vital aspect. The program’s new research fellow, Matt Blaszczyk, is working on expanding the journal, Sadek said.
Beyond the journal, the program is introducing new curricular offerings.
Next semester, Sadek and Blaszczyk will teach a new class in autonomous vehicles and the law, which will be offered to a mix of law and engineering students.
One project that began last semester grew out of students’ wishes to sharpen their skills in legal Spanish: They are examining Latin American countries’ laws and regulations on autonomous vehicles and preparing a readiness assessment.
“These students weren’t necessarily interested in law and mobility, but now they’re getting to review laws and regulations in Spanish and learn about a regulatory system in another country. It’s a great project for us, and it’s a great project for them,” Sadek said.
Another new project, currently in the planning stages, is a speaker series geared to students that will bring in a variety of guests from across the transportation spectrum, Sadek said.
Finally, the program is placing a new emphasis on interdisciplinary research. One example that’s already under way is a collaboration with the University’s aerospace engineering department on the challenges posed by spaceports—hubs for commercial space activity that will be akin to airports.
“What’s the impact of this when you’re launching multiple times a week, in different areas with communities nearby? Is it making their life better or making their life worse?” Sadek asked. “There are a lot of problems that the engineers are worried about that actually have legal solutions or could have legal solutions. So the engineering students are going to present to the law students. Then we’re going to put our heads together, talk to experts, talk to faculty, and then go back and present to them on the legal considerations that they should be aware of.”
A key collaborator in these new initiatives is Blaszczyk, the program’s new research fellow.
A native of Poland, Blaszczyk holds a bachelor of laws (equivalent to a JD) from the Dickson Poon School of Law at King’s College London and an LLM from the Georgetown University Law Center. He comes to Michigan Law having published on law and technology in flagship and specialty journals in the United States and internationally.
The law and mobility fellowship attracted him because “Michigan itself is lovely, and there are many scholars that I admire who work here,” he said.
The program is a natural fit for his research interests, which include AI regulation, copyright, and antitrust.
“The broad spectrum of topics that we can cover within the umbrella of law and mobility is very appealing,” he said. “I can bring my research interests and apply them to something truly tangible.”
Blaszczyk hopes his time at Michigan Law will eventually lead to a position in legal academia. During the two-year fellowship, his two primary responsibilities are research—he already has several papers in progress for the Law and Mobility Program—and managing the “Journal of Law and Mobility.”
“I’m trying to solicit manuscripts from the biggest names in the field and establish the journal as a leading publication in its field,” he said.
“I’ll be working on several of my emerging technology law papers with a team of research assistants. I will get to meet the students, and hopefully tackle some of those very interesting problems together with them.”
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