Carla L. Reyes
Full-time faculty
Assistant Professor of Law
Biography
Carla L. Reyes is an Assistant Professor of Law at SMU Dedman School of Law. An outstanding teacher and distinguished scholar, Professor Reyes is a nationally recognized leader on issues raised by the intersection of business law and technology. Professor Reyes was appointed the Chair of the Texas Work Group on Blockchain Matters in September 2021. The work group is charged with considering policy priorities related to blockchain technology in Texas. Professor Reyes was also named an American Bar Foundation Fellow in June 2021 and named one of the Women of Legal Tech 2020, an honor bestowed by the American Bar Association Legal Technology Resource Center.
Professor Reyes currently serves as the Research Director for the Uniform Law Commission’s Technology Committee, an Associate Research Director of the Permanent Editorial Board of the Uniform Commercial Code, an Expert Member of the UNIDROIT Work Group on Private Law and Digital Assets, and an Expert Member of the UNIDROIT Work Group on Best Practices for Effective Enforcement. Professor Reyes also contributed to the Uniform Law Commission and American Law Institute 2022 Amendments to the Uniform Commercial Code.
Prior to joining SMU Dedman School of Law, Professor Reyes served Michigan State University College of Law as an Assistant Professor of Law and Director of the Center for Law, Technology & Innovation, and taught Business Enterprises, Technology Transactions, Artificial Intelligence & the Law, and Blockchain Law & Policy. Prior to teaching law, Professor Reyes practiced law as an associate in the Blockchain Technology and Digital Currency industry group at Perkins Coie LLP.
A former Fulbright Scholar, Professor Reyes had the opportunity to pursue her research as a Faculty Associate at the Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University from September 2017-August 2019. Professor Reyes also actively contributes to blockchain technology initiatives at the Stanford CodeX as a RegTrax Curator, MIT’s Cryptoeconomic Systems program, the University College London’s Blockchain Research Centre as a Research Associate, and the American Bar Association.
Areas of Expertise
- Commercial Law
- Corporate Law
- Law and Technology as it relates to Blockchain Technology and Artificial Intelligence
Education
J.D., magna cum laude, Duke University School of Law
L.LM., (in International and Comparative Law), Duke University School of Law
M.P.P., Duke University
Courses
Secured Transactions
Artificial Intelligence & the Law
Blockchain Law & Policy
Books
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE & LAW: MATERIALS, PROBLEMS & ETHICAL CONSIDERATIONS (Wolters Kluwer, forthcoming) (with Kristin N. Johnson)
THE CAMBRIDGE HANDBOOK OF ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE AND THE LAW (Cambridge University Press, forthcoming 2023) (with Kristin N. Johnson)
BLOCKCHAIN LAW & POLICY: MATERIALS, CASES, AND PROBLEMS (West Academic, forthcoming 2023) (with Del Wright)
BUSINESS ORGANIZATIONS: AN EXPERIENTIAL APPROACH (Carolina Academic Press 2022) (with Carliss N. Chatman)
Articles
Dataveillance in Primary Education (in progress)
Emerging Technology’s Language Wars: Cryptocurrency, 64 William and Mary Law Review __ (2023)
Emerging Technology’s Language Wars: Artificial Intelligence in Criminal Justice, 5 Journal of Law & Innovation 1 (2023)
SSRN | SMU Repository
Creating Cryptolaw for the Uniform Commercial Code, 78 Washington & Lee Law Review 1521 (2021)
SSRN | SMU Repository
Autonomous Corporate Personhood, 96 Washington Law Review 1453 (2021)
SSRN | SMU Repository
Autonomous Business Reality, 21 Nevada Law Journal 437 (2021)
SSRN | SMU Repository
A Unified Theory of Code-Connected Contracts, 46 Journal of Corporate Law 981 (2021)
SSRN | SMU Repository
Digging Into Algorithms: Legal Ethics and Legal Access, 21 Nevada Law Journal 325 (2020) (with Jeff Ward)
SSRN | SMU Repository
(Un)Corporate Crypto-Governance, 88 Fordham Law Review 1875 (2020)
SSRN | SMU Repository
If Rockefeller Were a Coder, 87 George Washington Law Review 373 (2019)
SSRN | SMU Repository
Conceptualizing Cryptolaw, 96 Nebraska Law Review 601 (2017)
SSRN | SMU Repository
Distributed Governance, 59 William & Mary Law Review Online 1 (2017) (with Ben Edwards and Nizan Packin)
SSRN | SMU Repository
Moving Beyond Bitcoin to an Endogenous Theory of Decentralized Technology Regulation: An Initial Proposal, 61 Villanova Law Review 191 (2016)
SSRN | SMU Repository
WTO Compliant Protection of Fundamental Rights: Lessons from the EU Privacy Directive, 12 Melbourne Journal of International Law (2011) (peer reviewed)
SSRN | SMU Repository
Book Chapters
NFTs in Commercial Law, in THE CAMBRIDGE HANDBOOK ON LAW AND POLICY FOR NFTS (forthcoming 2023) (with Nelson Rosario)
The Language Landmines of Blockchain Technology and Digital Assets, in THE CAMBRIDGE HANDBOOK ON LAW AND POLICY FOR NFTS (forthcoming 2023)
Creating Cryptolaw for the MAC Protocol, in THE CAMBRIDGE HANDBOOK ON EMERGING ISSUES AT THE INTERSECTION OF COMMERCIAL LAW AND TECHNOLOGY (forthcoming 2023)
An Ethical Stack for AI Systems, in THE CAMBRIDGE HANDBOOK OF ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE AND THE LAW (forthcoming 2023)
Reimagining Investor Protection: Commentary on Rewritten SEC v. Howey, in FEMINIST JUDGEMENTS: REWRITTEN CORPORATE LAW (Cambridge University Press, forthcoming 2022 (with Kristin Johnson)
Other Publications
Emerging Technology’s Language Wars: Smart Contracts, 2022 Wisconsin Law Review Forward (forthcoming 2022)
Exploring the implications of Artificial Intelligence, 8 Journal of International & Comparative Law (2021)
SMU Repository
Cryptolaw for Distributed Ledger Technologies: A Jurisprudential Framework, 58 Jurimetrics Journal 283 (2018) (peer reviewed)
SMU Repository
More Legal Aspects of Smart Contract Applications, Perkins Coie LLP Whitepaper (May 2018) (with J. Dax Hansen & Laurie Rosini)
Regulatory Framework for Token Sales: An Overview of Relevant Laws and Regulations in Different Jurisdictions. COALA Report, with the Blockchain Research Institute (January 2018) (with P. De Filippi et al.)
Blockchain-Based Agencies, 42 Administrative & Regulatory Law News 9 (Summer 2017)
Legal Aspects of Smart Contract Applications, Perkins Coie LLP Whitepaper (May 2017) (with J. Dax Hansen)
Distributed Ledger Technology Will Drive Legal Innovation, in WHITE PAPER ON DISTRIBUTED LEDGER TECHNOLOGY 58 (Hong Kong Monetary Authority, Nov. 11, 2016)
Media
Forbes, quoted in No Tax On Crypto Purchases — Texas Proposals Go Big On Digital Assets (February 2023)
Bloomberg News, quoted in A Handful of Simple Rules Might Have Prevented FTX’s Demise (December 2022)
Voice America, featured on Getting Common (podcast) (September 2022)
The Encrypted Economy, featured on How Do You Create a Security Interest in a Digital Asset? Professor Carla Reyes, Southern Methodist University School of Law – E72 (podcast) (March 2022)
Legal Tech Live, featured on Human Readable Smart Contract Programming with Carla & Henning of Lexon.Tech (podcast) (February 2020)