Thrower Symposium

2024 Randolph W. Thrower Symposium

The Promise and Challenge of Artificial Intelligence in the Information Age

Hosted annually by the Emory Law Journal since 1995, the Thrower Symposium honors the life and legacy of Mr. Randolph W. Thrower (1913–2014). The 2024 Thrower Symposium will explore Artificial Intelligence in the Legal Landscape.

The release of GPT 3 and ChatGPT by Open AI in late 2022 has taken the world by storm. It has raised fundamental ethical and legal issues regarding the legitimacy of algorithmic decision-making, the social impact of algorithmic decision-making, and various liability and regulatory puzzles created by substituting human decision-makers with AI systems. These issues are particularly pressing because many of our existing legal frameworks are premised on human decision-making on a case-by-case basis. The time is ripe for the 2024 Thrower Symposium to address AI and the ground-breaking changes it will usher in in the coming years.

The symposium consisted of a keynote speech followed by three panels, listed below:

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 8, 2024

 Registration and Breakfast: 8:00 - 8:50 a.m., Hunter Atrium

Welcoming Remarks: 9:00 - 9:15 a.m., Tull Auditorium

KEYNOTE: 9:15 - 10:15 a.m., Tull Auditorium

• PROF. ORLY LOBEL, Warren Distinguished Professor of Law, University of San Diego School of Law

Break: 10:15 - 10:30 a.m., Hunter Atrium

PANEL 1: ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE IN MEDICINE, 10:30 a.m. - 12:00 p.m., Tull Auditorium

This panel discussed whether, when, and how the so-called actions of machines can and should result in legal liability and the problem of contextual bias in implementing medical AI in different communities.

• Dr. Anant Madhabhushi, Professor, Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering, Georgia Tech
• Prof. Nicholson Price, Professor of Law, University of Michigan Law School
• Prof. Sara Gerke, Assistant Professor of Law, Penn State Dickinson Law

Lunch: 12:00 - 1:00 p.m., Hunter Atrium

PANEL 2: THE COPYRIGHT PROBLEM, 1:00 - 2:30 p.m., Tull Auditorium

This panel discussed the implications of inventor-less inventions on copyright law. 

• Prof. Jessica Silbey, Professor of Law, Boston University School of Law
• Prof. Matthew Sag, Professor of Law, Emory University School of Law
• Prof. Aleksander J. Goranin, Partner, Duane Morris LLP

Break: 2:30 - 2:45 p.m., Hunter Atrium

PANEL 3: ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE & DATA PRIVACY, 2:45 - 4:15 p.m., Tull Auditorium

This panel discussed the impact of AI on the labor force and data privacy.

• Prof. Ari Waldman, Professor of Law, University of California, Irvine
• Ms. Jane Horvath, Partner, Gibson Dunn & Crutcher LLP
• Prof. Ifeoma Yvonne Ajunwa, Professor of Law, Emory University School of Law

Concluding Remarks: 4:15 - 4:30 p.m., Tull Auditorium

Reception: 4:30 - 6:00 p.m., Hunter Atrium

The 2023 Randolph W. Thrower Symposium

The Future of America’s Efforts to Promote the Rule of Law Abroad

Thursday, February 2, 2023
8 a.m. – 6 p.m.
In Person: Emory University School of Law
Virtual: Zoom link provided upon registration 

Hosted annually by the Emory Law Journal since 1995, the Thrower Symposium honors the life and legacy of Mr. Randolph W. Thrower (1913–2014). The 2023 Thrower Symposium will explore The Future of America’s Efforts to Promote the Rule of Law Abroad. Though the rule of law is perennially a critical subject, recent challenges have brought it to the forefront once again. Not only have threats to the rule of law blossomed abroad, as shown by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and China’s oppression of its political and ethnic minorities, but such threats have also festered at home, as shown by the attacks on the United States Capitol on January 6, 2021. In light of these challenges, the 2023 Thrower Symposium will be a chance to rejuvenate dialogue on urgent rule-of-law questions. 

Attorneys attending the keynote and all three panels in person, can receive 5.5 CLE credits. The symposium will take place at Emory University School of Law, with the schedule as follows.  

If you have any questions about the symposium, please email Eric Wang, Executive Symposium Editor.

Check-In and Breakfast: 8 - 8:50 a.m. 

Opening Remarks: 9 - 9:15 a.m. 

Keynote Address: 9:15 - 10:15 a.m. 

• Elizabeth Andersen, Executive Director of the World Justice Project 

Break: 10:15 a.m. - 10:30 a.m.

Panel I. Contemporary Threats to the Rule of Law, 10:30 a.m. - 12 p.m. 
This panel will explore threats to the rule of law, whether from authoritarian rulers (e.g., in China, Russia, North Korea, and Iran) or populist leaders (e.g., in Poland, Hungary, Turkey, and Venezuela).  

• David Carroll, Director of the Democracy Program at The Carter Center 
• Monika Nalepa, Professor of Political Science & Director of the Transitional Justice and Democratic Stability Lab, at The University of Chicago  
• Martin Flaherty, Leitner Family Professor of Law & Founding Co-Director of the Leitner Center for International Law and Justice, at Fordham University School of Law 
• Moderator: Magdalena Tulibacka, Faculty Lecturer, Emory University School of Law   

Lunch: 12 - 1 p.m. 

Panel II. Defining the Rule of Law, 1 - 2:30 p.m.   
This panel will discuss competing conceptions of the rule of law, from thinner conceptions that may focus primarily on a law’s form, to thicker conceptions that also consider its substance and factors such as electoral accountability, judicial independence, and human rights.  

• Mila Versteeg, Henry L. and Grace Doherty Charitable Foundation Professor of Law & Director of the Human Rights Program, at University of Virginia School of Law  
• Brian Tamanaha, John S. Lehmann University Professor at Washington University in St. Louis School of Law  
• Paul Gowder, Professor of Law & Associate Dean of Research and Intellectual Life, at Northwestern Pritzker School of Law  
• Moderator: Hallie Ludsin, Faculty Lecturer & Senior Fellow at the Center for the Study of Law and Religion, at Emory University School of Law   

Break: 2:30 - 2:45 p.m. 

Panel III. Advancing the Rule of Law, 2:45 - 4:15 p.m. 
This panel will discuss concrete steps that Americans and America’s state and non-state institutions can take to advance the rule of law abroad, in light of recent global and domestic developments.  

• William Ide, Of Counsel at Akerman LLP & former President of the American Bar Association 
• Mary Dudziak, Asa Griggs Candler Professor of Law at Emory University School of Law 
• Jon Smibert, Adjunct Professor at Emory University School of Law & former Resident Legal Advisor at the United States Department of Justice
• Moderator: Hillary Forden, Senior Associate Director of the Rule of Law Program at The Carter Center

Concluding Remarks: 4:15 - 4:30 p.m. 

Reception: 4:30 - 6 p.m. 

The 2022 Randolph W. Thrower Symposium

First Amendment: Gateway to Social Justice

Thursday, February 3, 2022
Emory University School of Law

Opening Remarks
9:00 a.m. – 9:15 a.m.

Danielle Kerker Goldstein, Editor-in-Chief, Emory Law Journal
Dean Mary Anne Bobinski, Emory University School of Law
Samantha Harrell, Executive Symposium Editor, Emory Law Journal

Keynote
9:15 a.m. – 9:45 a.m

Darren Hutchinson, Professor of Law and John Lewis Chair for Civil Rights and Social Justice, Emory University School of Law (Introduction by Dean Mary Anne Bobinski)

Panel I.  First Amendment and the Right to Know
9:45 a.m. – 11:00 a.m.

Moderator: Matthew Lawrence, Associate Professor of Law, Emory University School of Law

Barry Sullivan, Cooney & Conway Chair in Advocacy and George Anastaplo Professor of Constitutional Law and History, Loyola University
Aziz Z. Huq, Frank and Bernice J. Greenberg Professor of Law, University of Chicago
Gerry Weber, Senior Staff Counsel at Southern Center for Human Rights, Adjunct Professor at Emory University School of Law and Georgia State College of Law

LUNCH
11:00 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.

Panel II.  First Amendment Rights in a Changing America
12:30 p.m. – 1:30 p.m.

Moderator: Michael J Broyde, Professor of Law, Director of the SJD Program, Berman Projects Director at Center for the Study of Law and Religion, Emory University

Berta Hernández-Truyol, Professor of Law, University of Florida Levin School of Law
Tabatha Abu El-Haj, Professor of Law, Drexel University Thomas R. Kline School of Law
Justin Hansford, Professor of Law and Director of the Thurgood Marshall Civil Rights Center, Howard University

Panel III:  Making Your Voice Heard: The Efficacy of the First Amendment
1:30 p.m. – 2:30 p.m.

Moderator: Mary L. Dudziak, Asa Griggs Candler Professor of Law, Emory University School of Law

Seth Kreimer, Kenneth W. Gemmill Professor of Law, University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School
Azadeh Shahshahani, Legal & Advocacy Director, Project South
Dawn C. Nunziato, William Wallace Kirkpatrick Research Professor, George Washington University, School of Law

The 2021 Randolph W. Thrower Symposium

Privacy in the Technology Age: Big Tech, Government, and Civil Liberties

Thursday, February 4, 2021
8:30 a.m. - 4:45 p.m.
Emory University School of Law via Zoom (links provided upon registration)

Morgan Cloud, Charles Howard Candler Professor of Law, Emory University School of Law (Moderator)
Anita L. Allen, Vice Provost for Faculty, Henry R. Silverman Professor of Law and Professor of Philosophy, University of Pennsylvania
Roy E. Barnes, Former Georgia Governor; Founder, Barnes Law Group
Woodrow Hartzog, Professor of Law and Computer Science, Northeastern University School of Law

Panel I video

Keynote video unavailable

Kay L. Levine, Professor of Law, Emory University School of Law (Moderator)
Chaz Arnett, Associate Professor of Law, University of Maryland Carey School of Law
Jamil N. Jaffer, Founder & Executive Director, National Security Institute; Director, National Security Law & Policy Program; Assistant Professor, George Mason University Antonin Scalia Law School
Jennifer Lynch, Surveillance Litigation Director, Electronic Frontier Foundation

Panel II video

Panel III:  Antitrust & Big Tech: Consolidation and the Resulting Tension

Lawrence (Larry) A. Reicher, Chief, Office of Decree Enforcement and Compliance (Antitrust Division), United States Department of Justice (Moderator)
Roger P. Alford, Professor of Law, Notre Dame Law School
Marina Lao, Board of Visitors Research Scholar and Edward S. Hendrickson Professor of Law, Seton Hall University School of Law

Panel III video

The Thrower Symposium is free and open to the public. For Georgia Bar members, five hours of CLE credit is available. The CLE fee is waived for judges and clerks.

The 2020 Randolph W. Thrower Symposium

Election Law in a Changing Political Landscape: Voter Access, Enforcement After Violations, and Innovative State Approaches

Keynote Discussion: Analysis of the Supreme Court Opinion in Rucho v. Common Cause

Keynote Video »

Emmet J. Bondurant, Partner, Bondurant Mixson & Elmore LLP

Panel I : Creating Change: Advances in State and Local Election Law Approaches

Panel I Video »

Deborah Dinner, Associate Professor, Emory University School of Law; Faculty Advisor, Emory Law Journal (Moderator)

Richard Briffault, Joseph P. Chamberlain Professor of Litigation, Columbia Law School
Bryan L. Sells, Attorney, The Law Office of Bryan L. Sells, LLC
Abby K. Wood, Associate Professor of Law, Political Science and Public Policy, USC Gould School of Law

Panel II : Voters' Rights: Voter Access and Requirements

Panel II Video »

Alexander Volokh, Associate Professor of Law, Emory University School of Law (Moderator)

Michael S. Kang, William G. and Virginia K. Karnes Research Professor of Law, Northwestern Pritzker School of Law
Gary Simson, Macon Chair in Law, Mercer University School of Law
Andrea Young, Executive Director, American Civil Liberties Union of Georgia

Panel III : Violations and Enforcement: Identifying and Rectifying Campaign and Election Violations

Panel III Video »

Fred Smith, Associate Professor of Law, Emory University School of Law (Moderator)

Michael Latner, Professor, Department of Political Science, California Polytechnic State University
Daniel Tokaji, Fred W. & Vi Miller Dean and Professor of Law, University of Wisconsin Law School
Ciara Torres-Spelliscy, Professor, Stetson University College of Law

The 2019 Randolph W. Thrower Symposium

Exploring Gun Violence in Modern America: Law, Policy, and Social Movements

Keynote Discussion: The Second Amendment in an Era of Mass Shootings

Keynote Video »

Robert J. Cottrol, Harold Paul Green Research Professor of Law, George Washington University School of Law
Adam Winkler, Professor of Law, UCLA School of Law

Panel I : Gun-Related Crime and Enforcement: State and National Considerations

Panel I Video »

Morgan Cloud, Charles Howard Candler Professor of Law, Emory University School of Law (Moderator)

W. Matthew Dodge, Appellate Attorney at Federal Defender Program for the Northern District of Georgia
Paul L. Howard, Jr., District Attorney, Fulton County
David E. Patton, Executive Director and Attorney-in-Chief, Federal Defenders of New York
Sally Yates, Partner, King & Spalding, and Former United States Deputy Attorney General

Panel II : Gun Violence and Mental Health: Statistics and Realities

Panel II Video »

Sarah Shalf, Professor of Practice, Emory University School of Law (Moderator)

Annie Deets, Adjunct Professor, Emory University School of Law; Managing Attorney, DeKalb County Law Office of the Public Defender, Mental Health Division
Dr. Mark Rosenberg, Director, The Task Force for Global Health
Dr. Jeffrey Swanson, Professor in Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Duke University School of Medicine
Fredrick Vars, Ira Drayton Pruitt, Sr. Professor of Law, University of Alabama School of Law

Panel III : Gun Policy and Political Pressure: Interest Groups and Social Movements

Panel III Video »

Rich Freer, Charles Howard Candler Professor of Law, Emory University School of Law (Moderator)

Dr. Kristin Goss, Associate Professor, Duke University Sanford School of Public Policy
Dr. David S. Meyer, Professor of Sociology, UC Irvine School of Social Sciences
Dr. Jaclyn Schildkraut, Associate Professor of Public Justice, SUNY Oswego
Frank J. Vandall, Professor of Law, Emory University School of Law

The 2018 Randolph W. Thrower Symposium

Sex Crimes in the 21st Century:
Human Trafficking, Pornography, and Prostitution

Thursday, February 8, 2018

Keynote

Catherine A. MacKinnon, Elizabeth A. Long Professor of Law at the University of Michigan and James Barr Ames Visiting Professor of Law at Harvard Law School

Panel I: Flashing Images in Our Modern World: Obscenity, Child Pornography and the First Amendment

Julie Seaman, Associate Dean for Academic Affairs, Emory University School of Law (moderator)
Jennifer Kinsley, Professor of Law and the Director of Experimental Learning at Northern Kentucky University Chase College of Law
Thomas C. Arthur, LQC Lamar Professor of Law, Emory University School of Law
Stacey Steinberg, Legal Skills Professor and Associate Director, Center on Children and Families at University of Florida Levin College of Law

Panel II: Issues with Enforcement: Human Trafficking, Pornography and Prostitution

John Witte Jr., Robert W. Woodruff Professor of Law, Emory University School of Law (moderator)
David Delmonico, Professor, Duquesne University and Director, Online Behavior Research and Education Center
Mary J. Leary, Professor of Law, The Catholic University of America
Dalia Racine, Deputy Chief ADA at DeKalb County District Attorney's Office, Human Trafficking Unit
Bob Rubin, Partner at Peter, Rubin & Sheffield, P.A.

Panel III: Human Trafficking and Prostitution: What Should We Do?

Johan D. Van der Vyver, I.T. Cohen Professor of International Law and Human Rights, Emory University School of Law (moderator)
Melissa Farley, Founder and Director of Prostitution Research and Education
Liesl Gerntholtz, Executive Director, Women's Rights Division, Human Rights Watch
Susan Coppedge, Former Ambassador-at-Large, U.S. Department of State

The 2017 Randolph W. Thrower Symposium

Minding the Gap:
Law and Practice in Public Health Emergencies

Thursday, February 2, 2017

Video Keynote: Professor Lawrence Gostin

In light of recent global events, the 2017 Thrower Symposium panelists explored a vast array of issues and threats confronting our nation in the twenty-first century. These topics include cybersecurity, applicable law doctrines, corporate responsibility, new technologies and their effects on national security, immigration, domestic terrorism, and cross-border security. The breadth of these topics demonstrated the need for organized and thoughtful discussion.

The 2016 Randolph W. Thrower Symposium

Redefined National Security Threats:
Tensions and Legal Implications

Thursday, February 11, 2016

Videos

Video Keynote: Professor Harold Hongju Koh

Video Panel 1: Cybersecurity Beyond the Media Coverage: Applicable Law Doctrines, Corporate Responsibility, and Practical Implications

Video Panel 2: New Technologies Expanding the Frontiers of National Security: Emerging Technologies, Issues, and Guidance

Video Panel 3: Transnational Tensions and National Security: Immigration, Domestic Terrorism, and Cross-Border Security

The 2016 Thrower Symposium explored the tensions, complementarities, and resulting legal implications in three rapidly changing and developing areas of national security: cyber security; new technologies, including domestic drones; and transnational tensions in domestic security, immigration laws, and cross-border security. Recent developments in the national security law arena demonstrate a strong need for organized and thoughtful discussions on threats and corresponding responses in these areas--at local, federal, and international levels; as well as across the public-private divide. The diverse opinions and approaches to assessing these issues created an opportunity for stimulating dialogue on the future of national security law.

The "War" on the U.S. Civil Justice System

Co-sponsored by the Pound Civil Justice Institute and Emory University School of Law

Scholarship from this symposium is available here »

Thursday, October 15, 2015

Disappearing Courts: Diminishing Use of and Access to Civil Litigation

Video: Panel 1

Tort "Reform" and Its Impact on the Development of U.S. Law

Video: Panel 2

About the Symposium

The Pound Institute and Emory Law have invited leading scholars of the U.S. civil justice system to address some of the most important current issues. During the one-day symposium this fall, law professors who are experts in the civil justice field will present original papers on topics such as:

• The Role of Litigation in America’s Democracy

• The Declining Incidence of Court-Centered Litigation in Federal and State Courts

• Raising Ever-Higher Barriers to Litigation

• Making Litigation Disappear

• Legislative Involvement in the Civil Justice System

• The Current State, and the Future, of Class Actions

• Is the U.S. Still a Common Law Country?

• Participants and Cost

The Pound Civil Justice Institute is a national legal “think tank” created by pioneering members of the trial bar and dedicated to ensuring access to justice for ordinary citizens. Through its activities, the Institute works to give lawyers, judges, legal educators and the public a balanced view of the issues affecting the U.S. civil justice system.

The National Labor Relations Board After Eighty Years

Friday, April 10, 2015

Scholarship from the symposium is available here »

Assessing the NLRB's Impact & Political Effectiveness

Audio: Symposium on The National Labor Relations Board After Eighty Years- Panel 1 »

A Conversation with NLRB Members & General Counsel

Audio: Symposium on The National Labor Relations Board After Eighty Years- Panel 2 »

Opportunities for Improvement in Changing Times

Audio: Symposium on The National Labor Relations Board After Eighty Years-Panel 3

The Emory Law Journal is pleased to present a special symposium the Journal has put together with the invaluable assistance of Professor Michael Z. Green of the Texas A&M University School of Law. Our symposium will address the continued viability of the National Labor Relations Board as an administrative agency at the dawn of its eightieth anniversary. The decisions and actions of the Board have drawn increased scrutiny in the modern era, and even more so in the wake of President Obama's efforts to ensure the Board was comprised of a full contingent of members. But even before President Obama was elected, because the Board primarily develops its rules through adjudications its decisions have become quite controversial, no doubt in part as a result from the lack of legislative changes to guide the agency's actions over the past forty years. The NLRB’s effectiveness as it reaches its eightieth anniversary in 2015 represents an important legal question and a major concern for all those interested in labor law. This Symposium will assemble some of the most prominent labor law scholars in the country along with the NLRB Chairman and NLRB General Counsel and other members of the NLRB to assess the role of the Board today, what actions Congress may take with respect to the Board, and what the future of the Board might be. Specifically, our symposium will feature three panels, highlighted below.

This event is co-sponsored by the Labor and Employment Law section of the State Bar of Georgia.

The 2015 Randolph W. Thrower Symposium

The New Age of Communication: Freedom of Speech in the 21st Century

Thursday, February 5, 2015

Scholarship from the symposium is available here »

Videos

Keynote, Professor Eugene Volokh, UCLA School of Law

Panel 1: Freedom of Speech: Theories and Foundations

Panel 2: The First Amendment Today

Panel 3: Freedom of Speech in the 21st Century

The Emory Law Journal is pleased to present the 2015 Randolph W. Thrower Symposium: "The New Age of Communication: Freedom of Speech in the 21st Century." Broadly speaking, the symposium will explore the changing doctrine of free speech in the United States. The Supreme Court has been actively shaping speech rights through decisions such as McCutcheon v. Federal Election Commission, Snyder v. Phelps, and United States v. Alvarez. These new opinions and approaches create an occasion for stimulating dialogue on the foundations, current doctrines, and future of free speech. The 2015 Thrower Symposium was developed with Professor Alexander Tsesis of Loyola University Chicago School of Law.

The 2014 Randolph W. Thrower Symposium

American Dispute Resolution in 2020: The Death of Group Vindication of the Law?

Thursday, February 6, 2014

Scholarship from the symposium is available here »

Videos

Keynote, Arthur R. Miller, University Professor, New York University School of Law

Panel 1: In a Class by Itself: Has the Roberts Court Slammed the courthouse Door on Class Actions?

Panel 2: Binding the Future: Global Settlements and the Death of Representative Litigation

Panel 3: Stand Alone or Stand Down: Consumer Arbitration Agreements and the Demise of Collective Dispute Resolution

Recently, the Supreme Court has cut back on the ability of parties to press claims collectively. Starting with Stolt-Nielsen S.A. v. AnimalFeeds International Corp., running through AT&T Mobility LLC v. Concepcion, and continuing this year with Comcast Corp. v. Behrend and American Express Co. v. Italian Colors Restaurant, the Court has transformed the manner in which individuals may press their claims. Pushing beyond the scope of past symposia on differing methods of dispute resolution, the symposium will focus on the implications of a system that shuts out consumers and other citizens from collective vindication of their contractual and other economic rights. Explored through the framework of class actions, mass arbitrations, and global settlements, these broad implications will emerge as answers to underlying questions regarding the efficiency, manageability, and even desirability of this potential extinction of group actions. To that end, the 2014 Randolph W. Thrower Symposium presented by the Emory Law Journal will bring together the leading scholars and practitioners in the realm of complex litigation as it relates to this potentially tectonic shift in our legal system.