Law Review Symposium to Explore the Future of E-Commerce This year’s symposium investigates why and how blockchain technology is relevant to the legal community.
On Friday, March 17, the W&L Law Review will host the annual Lara D. Gass Symposium. The event will be held from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. in the Millhiser Moot Court Room, Sydney Lewis Hall on the W&L campus.
This year’s symposium is titled “The Future of E-Commerce: Is it on a Blockchain?” and investigates why and how blockchain technology is relevant to the legal community. The keynote speaker for the event is Sultan Meghji, Senior Advisor at Reciprocal Ventures and a professor at Duke University.
Meghji most recently served as the inaugural Chief Innovation Officer at the FDIC. A noted expert in AI, Biotech, Cybersecurity, Quantum Computing & Web3, he also serves as a scholar at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, a fellow at the George Mason National Security Institute and is a distinguished member of the Bretton Woods Committee. Meghji has a 30-year career in technology, including launching, scaling and selling a number of startups in frontier technologies, biotech and fintech.
Panel discussions during the event will include analyzing Decentralized Autonomous Organizations (DAOs), examining regulatory developments on cryptocurrencies and blockchains, and debating how to ensure the legal regime can effectively handle digital ownership. Presenters include the following:
DAO Panel
- Brian Avello, General Counsel at Maker DAO
- Matt McGuire, General Counsel at Violet Protocol
- Michael Fluhr, Counsel at DLA Piper
- Chris Cameron, Delegate at GFX Labs
Regulation Panel
- Tuongvy (Vy) Le, Partner and Head of Regulatory Policy at Bain Capital (former SEC enforcement)
- Dina Rochkind, Counsel at Paul Hastings
- Michael Mosier, General Counsel at Espresso Systems (former Acting Director, FinCEN)
Digital Ownership Panel
- Niloufer Selvadurai, Professor at Macquarie University Law
- Aaron Perzanowski, Professor at University Michigan Law
- Christine Kim, Professor at Cardozo Law
For questions regarding the event, contact John Coffron at coffron.j23@law.wlu.edu.
The Lara D. Gass Symposium is named in honor of Lara Gass, a member of the Law Class of 2014 who passed away in an automobile accident in March of 2014. Gass served as Symposium Editor for the Washington and Lee Law Review, organizing the Law Review’s 2014 symposium focused on the 40th anniversary of Roe v. Wade. Lara was active within the Women Law Students Organization and also served as a Kirgis Fellow, the law school’s peer mentoring group, during the 2012–2013 academic year. In January 2014, Lara received recognition for her academic achievements, her leadership abilities, her service to the law school and university community, and her character when she was inducted into Omicron Delta Kappa, the National Leadership Honor Society.
