Ipse Dixit

In this episode, Philip Hackney, Professor of Law at the University of Pittsburgh School of Law, discusses his draft article, "Arts Tax Policy: Democracy or Plutocracy?," which will be published in the Loyola L.A. Law Review. Hackney begins by explaining how the tax code conceptualizes art. Then he explains how the tax code conceptualizes charitable organizations and treats them differently from non-charitable organizations. He reflects on the justifications for tax exemption and deduction, especially in relation to the arts sector, focusing on the equitably of subsidizing organizations that primarily benefit and are controlled by the wealthy. And he explains how tax policy could be more equitable and progressive in relation to the arts sector. Hackney is on Twitter and Bluesky.This episode was hosted by Brian L. Frye, Spears-Gilbert Professor of Law at the University of Kentucky College of Law. Frye is on Twitter at @brianlfrye and on Bluesky at @brianlfrye.bsky.social.

In this episode, Daniel Schwarcz, Fredrikson & Byron Professor of Law and a Distinguished University Teaching Professor at the University of Minnesota Law School, discusses his draft article "Artificial Intelligence and Human Legal Reasoning," which he co-authored with Nicholas Bednar, David R. Cleveland, and Allan Erbsen. Schwarcz explains that he and his co-authors wanted to test the conventional wisdom that using artificial intelligence models to answer legal questions will inhibit the ability of law students and lawyers to learn how to answer those questions on their own. He describes their empirical study designed to test that hypothesis and its unexpected results. And he reflects on what we can learn from the study. Schwarcz is on Twitter and Bluesky.This episode was hosted by Brian L. Frye, Spears-Gilbert Professor of Law at the University of Kentucky College of Law. Frye is on Twitter at @brianlfrye and on Bluesky at @brianlfrye.bsky.social.

In this episode, Jeremy Bearer-Friend, Associate Professor of Law at George Washington University Law School, and Sarah Polcz, Acting Professor of Law at UC Davis School of Law, discuss their article "Sharing the Algorithm: The Tax Solution to Generative AI," which is published in the Columbia Journal of Tax Law. Bearer-Friend and Polcz begin by outlining some of the social problems associated with generative AI and explaining why existing proposals to address those problems are inadequate. They then propose an alternative model, consisting of an equity tax on AI companies, and explain why it would be both effective and preferable to alternative approaches. Bearer-Friend is on Twitter and Bluesky. Polcz is also on Twitter and Bluesky.This episode was hosted by Brian L. Frye, Spears-Gilbert Professor of Law at the University of Kentucky College of Law. Frye is on Twitter at @brianlfrye and on Bluesky at @brianlfrye.bsky.social.

In this episode, Aman Gebru, Assistant Professor of Law at the University of Houston Law Center, discusses his draft article "Truthmarks," which will be published in the American University Law Review. Gebru begins by explaining the purpose of trademark law and how it protects trademarks. He describes three uses of trademarks that are inconsistent with the policy goals of trademark law of conveying truth information to consumers: masking marks, zombie marks, and nonsense marks. And he reflects on how trademark law could mitigate the harms associated with those uses. Gebru is on Twitter.This episode was hosted by Brian L. Frye, Spears-Gilbert Professor of Law at the University of Kentucky College of Law. Frye is on Twitter at @brianlfrye and on Bluesky at @brianlfrye.bsky.social.

In this episode, Stephen K. Urice and Simon J. Frankel discuss their book Law, Ethics, and the Visual Arts, the sixth edition of which was just published by Cambridge University Press. Urice and Frankel describe the creation of the book and the academic study of art law by John Henry Merryman, and discuss their own respective background in art law. They explain how the study and practice of art law fits into the study and practice of law more generally. And the reflect on how they expanded and amended the book for this new edition. Urice and Frankel are on LinkedIn.This episode was hosted by Brian L. Frye, Spears-Gilbert Professor of Law at the University of Kentucky College of Law. Frye is on Twitter at @brianlfrye and on Bluesky at @brianlfrye.bsky.social.

In this episode, Sam Williams, Associate Professor of Law and Reference and Instruction Librarian at the University of Idaho College of Law discusses several of his articles, including “The Law is Weirder than AI,” which was published in 2024 with the Hofstra Law Review, and “The Jokerfication of Law,” which was published with Hedgehogs and Foxes. Williams discusses how these pieces shed light on the nature of the weird and the eerie in law and legal scholarship, and how professors should think of their roles in an increasingly chaotic world. He also shares his thoughts on weird and silly legal scholarship, the place for such scholarship in the broader legal academic literature, and inspirations for his work—including Ipse Dixit’s very own Brian Frye. Williams is on Bluesky at @sawilliams.bsky.social. This episode was guest hosted by Michael Smith, Associate Professor of Law at the University of Oklahoma College of Law. Michael Smith is on Bluesky at @msmith750.bsky.social

In this episode, Christopher T. Brooks, Professor of History at East Stroudsburg University, discusses his work on appellate judicial selection. He explains that state appellate judges are usually either elected or appointed with the advice of nominating committees. He argues that both methods are flawed, and that it would be better for judges to be appointed by elected nominating committees. Brooks is on LinkedIn.This episode was hosted by Brian L. Frye, Spears-Gilbert Professor of Law at the University of Kentucky College of Law. Frye is on Twitter at @brianlfrye and on Bluesky at @brianlfrye.bsky.social.

In this episode, Valentin Jeutner, Associate Professor of Law at Lund University and Retained Lecturer in Law at Pembroke College, Oxford University, discusses his book "[l]ex machina: unlikely encounters of international law and technology," which is published by Lund University. Jeutner begins by introducing listeners to conceptual legal writing, describing its relationship to conceptual art and conceptual writing. He provides a preliminary taxonomy of conceptual legal writing and explains his own practice of conceptual legal writing. In particular, he reflects on how conceptual legal writing can help readers see legal texts in a new and different light. He also reads a short text composed using a conceptual legal writing method. You can read Jeutner's "Fragmentary Catalogue of Conceptual Legal Writing" here, and his book "The Aesthetic Authority of Law: Experiments with Legal Form" here. Jeutner is on Bluesky.This episode was hosted by Brian L. Frye, Spears-Gilbert Professor of Law at the University of Kentucky College of Law. Frye is on Twitter at @brianlfrye and on Bluesky at @brianlfrye.bsky.social.

In this episode, Sharon Yadin, Senior Lecturer of Law and Regulation at the Yezreel Valley College School of Public Administration and Public Policy, discusses her draft article "The Hidden Nature of Regulation," which will be published in the Harvard Negotiation Law Review. Yadin begins by describing the conventional bifurcation of regulation into "hard" and "soft" approaches. She observes that in practice, regulation is always negotiated between regulators and regulated parties. And she explains how this alternative perspective on the nature of regulation should inflect our approach to it. Yadin is on Twitter and Bluesky.This episode was hosted by Brian L. Frye, Spears-Gilbert Professor of Law at the University of Kentucky College of Law. Frye is on Twitter at @brianlfrye and on Bluesky at @brianlfrye.bsky.social.