2010 Symposium

Adaptation and Resiliency in Legal Systems

The Topic

The topic, although itself capable of (and needing) treatment in general terms, is especially timely in light of two specific challenges in which the resiliency and adaptability of legal regimes is the central question. In the aftermath of the financial crisis of 2008, the problem of regulating a financial industry characterized by constant innovation of financial products and structures, now becomes a central issue that will surely transcend whatever legislation might be adopted in the near future. Similarly, the problem of regulating climate change amidst new evidence on both the underlying problem and on the strategic behavior of firms responding to existing governmental efforts, highlight the sort of dynamic legal regime that seems necessary to meet the regulatory challenge. But practical applications are hardly restricted to these two case histories. Current aspects of telecommunications and internet policy, terrorism and international relations, public health and disaster management, criminal justice and recidivism, to name just a few other areas, have all been characterized in recent years by the sudden emergence of problems that were flatly unexpected and that still remain relatively (perhaps even inherently) unpredictable. This Symposium will attract both theoretically- and practically-minded scholars interested in abstracting the underlying similarities among these areas of policymaking, and in discussing a broad range of possible solutions and theoretical insights.

Faculty Chairs