I am an assistant professor at Wharton (University of Pennsylvania) in the Department of Legal Studies and Business Ethics. I received my B.A. with First Class Honours in Philosophy and English from McGill University, where I also earned a Masters degree in Bioethics. I graduated with a J.D. from Yale Law School, and a Ph.D. in Philosophy, with Distinction, from Georgetown. Following law school, I clerked for the Honorable Louis H. Pollak of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. Prior to my appointment at Wharton, I was an adjunct professor of law at Georgetown University Law Center. My research calls for an expansion of the understandings of responsibility standardly advanced in law and ethics, and a deflation of the conception of the corporation pervading much legal and public discourse. More specifically, I have two research streams, the first looking at questions of responsibility for financial and corporate wrongdoing, and the second interrogating the notion of corporate constitutional rights. Articles emerging from the first research stream address questions about assigning responsibility for corporate crimes: When and why it is appropriate to prosecute and punish corporations, or the executives who work for them? And when is it appropriate to have innocent beneficiaries of a corporate or financial crime return the proceeds they earned from that crime (e.g., when and why might it be appropriate for those who innocently profited from the Madoff Ponzi scheme to return their "winnings"?). Articles emerging from the second stream seek to gain clarity on the kind of citizen the corporation is, for purposes of delineating the scope and strength of its constitutional rights. Prior work has addressed the criminalization of harm to the unborn, reparations for slavery, the responsibility of commanders for atrocities committed by their troops, and the responsibility of citizens for transgressions committed by their nation-state. My works-in-progress seek to articulate an over-arching theoretical framework that will serve as a complement to the traditional, individualist paradigm, and help us assign responsibility for collective wrongdoing.
Criminal Law
Guilty by Proxy: Expanding the Boundaries of Responsibility in the Face of Corporate Crime, Hastings Law Journal (2011)
The BP oil spill and financial crisis share in common more than just profound tragedy...
Failures To Punish: Command Responsibility in Domestic and International Law, Michigan Journal of International Law (2009)
Military spokespeople and upper echelon commanders routinely maintain that wartime atrocities are the acts of...
Defense of Others and Defenseless "Others", Yale Journal of Law and Feminism (2006)
Recent efforts at fetal protection transgress the nation's most fundamental political commitments. These efforts notably...
Legal Theory
Citizen Responsibility and the Reactive Attitudes, Collective Punishment (2011)
This paper takes seriously the notion that individuals may bear responsibility for the transgressions of...
Responsibility for Historical Injustices: Reconceiving the Case for Reparations, Journal of Law and Politics (2006)
Two opposing conceptions of responsibility animate the debate about reparations for slavery. Opponents of reparations...
Feminist Theory
Defense of Others and Defenseless "Others", Yale Journal of Law and Feminism (2006)
Recent efforts at fetal protection transgress the nation's most fundamental political commitments. These efforts notably...
Civil Rights
Citizens United and the Ineluctable Question of Corporate Citizenship (2011)
As a result of the Supreme Court’s decision in Citizens United, corporations and individuals now...
Responsibility for Historical Injustices: Reconceiving the Case for Reparations, Journal of Law and Politics (2006)
Two opposing conceptions of responsibility animate the debate about reparations for slavery. Opponents of reparations...
Remedies
Righting Others' Wrongs: A Critical Analysis of Clawback Suits in the Wake of Madoff-Type Ponzi Schemes and Other Financial Frauds, ExpressO (2012)
In a typical Ponzi scheme, early investors earn “profits” not through any legitimate investment activity...
Responsibility for Historical Injustices: Reconceiving the Case for Reparations, Journal of Law and Politics (2006)
Two opposing conceptions of responsibility animate the debate about reparations for slavery. Opponents of reparations...
International Criminal Law
Citizen Responsibility and the Reactive Attitudes, Collective Punishment (2011)
This paper takes seriously the notion that individuals may bear responsibility for the transgressions of...
Failures To Punish: Command Responsibility in Domestic and International Law, Michigan Journal of International Law (2009)
Military spokespeople and upper echelon commanders routinely maintain that wartime atrocities are the acts of...
Military Law
Failures To Punish: Command Responsibility in Domestic and International Law, Michigan Journal of International Law (2009)
Military spokespeople and upper echelon commanders routinely maintain that wartime atrocities are the acts of...
International Corporate Law
Regulation of the Global Marketplace for the Sake of Health (with Marion Danis), Journal of Law, Medicine and Ethics (2002)
Mounting evidence suggests that socioeconomic status is a determinant of health. As nations around the...
Bioethics and the Law
Regulation of the Global Marketplace for the Sake of Health (with Marion Danis), Journal of Law, Medicine and Ethics (2002)
Mounting evidence suggests that socioeconomic status is a determinant of health. As nations around the...
Law and Society
Righting Others' Wrongs: A Critical Analysis of Clawback Suits in the Wake of Madoff-Type Ponzi Schemes and Other Financial Frauds, ExpressO (2012)
In a typical Ponzi scheme, early investors earn “profits” not through any legitimate investment activity...
Citizens United and the Ineluctable Question of Corporate Citizenship (2011)
As a result of the Supreme Court’s decision in Citizens United, corporations and individuals now...
Corporations
Guilty by Proxy: Expanding the Boundaries of Responsibility in the Face of Corporate Crime, Hastings Law Journal (2011)
The BP oil spill and financial crisis share in common more than just profound tragedy...
Citizens United and the Ineluctable Question of Corporate Citizenship (2011)
As a result of the Supreme Court’s decision in Citizens United, corporations and individuals now...
Constitutional Law, First Amendment, Election Law
Citizens United and the Ineluctable Question of Corporate Citizenship (2011)
As a result of the Supreme Court’s decision in Citizens United, corporations and individuals now...
General Law
Righting Others' Wrongs: A Critical Analysis of Clawback Suits in the Wake of Madoff-Type Ponzi Schemes and Other Financial Frauds, ExpressO (2012)
In a typical Ponzi scheme, early investors earn “profits” not through any legitimate investment activity...
Bankruptcy Law
Righting Others' Wrongs: A Critical Analysis of Clawback Suits in the Wake of Madoff-Type Ponzi Schemes and Other Financial Frauds, ExpressO (2012)
In a typical Ponzi scheme, early investors earn “profits” not through any legitimate investment activity...
Economics
Righting Others' Wrongs: A Critical Analysis of Clawback Suits in the Wake of Madoff-Type Ponzi Schemes and Other Financial Frauds, ExpressO (2012)
In a typical Ponzi scheme, early investors earn “profits” not through any legitimate investment activity...
Civil Law
Righting Others' Wrongs: A Critical Analysis of Clawback Suits in the Wake of Madoff-Type Ponzi Schemes and Other Financial Frauds, ExpressO (2012)
In a typical Ponzi scheme, early investors earn “profits” not through any legitimate investment activity...
Banking and Finance
Righting Others' Wrongs: A Critical Analysis of Clawback Suits in the Wake of Madoff-Type Ponzi Schemes and Other Financial Frauds, ExpressO (2012)
In a typical Ponzi scheme, early investors earn “profits” not through any legitimate investment activity...