Michele Neitz, Visiting Professor

Michele Neitz

Professor & Founding Director, Center for Law, Tech, & Social Good

Full-Time Faculty
Program Director
SSRN

Biography

Michele Benedetto Neitz is the Stellar Development Foundation Professor of Law, Technology, and Social Transformation at the University of San Francisco School of Law, and the Founding Director of the Center for Law, Tech, and Social Good.

Professor Neitz teaches Business Associations, Emerging Tech for Social Impact, Blockchain Law, and other classes. Prior to joining USF Law in 2023, Professor Neitz was voted “Most Outstanding Professor” by the graduating class of Golden Gate University School of Law six times, most recently in 2022.

She is a current member of the United Nations Development Programme’s AI for Human Development Discussion Group in Latin America & the Caribbean, as well as the New York State Department of Financial Services’ Virtual Currency Advisory Board. Professor Neitz was appointed to advise the California legislature as a member of the California Blockchain Working Group in 2019. She publishes and lectures regularly on the ethical, regulatory, and social impact issues arising in emerging technology.

Professor Neitz graduated as a Root-Tilden-Kern Scholar from New York University School of Law. Before joining academia, she served as a Judicial Clerk for the late Honorable Napoleon A. Jones, Jr., of the United States District Court, Southern District of California. She also worked as an Equal Justice Works fellow at the Legal Aid Society of San Diego and was an associate at Morrison & Foerster.

Expertise

  • Quantum Computing Law and Policy
  • Artificial Intelligence and AI Agent Law and Policy
  • Blockchain/Web 3 law and regulation
  • Ethics in technology
  • Corporate law
  • Legal ethics
  • Implicit bias
  • Emerging technology law

Research Areas

  • Emerging technology law and regulation
  • Emerging technology ethics

Education

  • New York University School of Law, JD (Honors: Root-Tilden-Kern Public Interest Scholar)
  • Santa Clara University, BA (Honors: Valedictorian Finalist)

Prior Experience

  • Clerk, Southern District of California for Judge Napoleon Jones
  • Equal Justice Works fellow, Legal Aid Society of San Diego
  • Associate, Morrison & Foerster

Awards & Distinctions

  • GGU Law Gorfinkel/Calhoun Award for Outstanding Professor (voted by graduating class), 2009, 2013, 2014, 2016, 2020, 2022
  • GGU Law Student Bar Association Law Professor of the Year (voted by student organizations), 2018
  • GGU Law Justice Jesse W. Carter Faculty Scholarship Award, 2010
  • GGU Law Multicultural Graduation Diversity Award, 2009

Selected Publications

Last Three Years

Podcasts/Media Coverage

Law Review and Journal Articles

  • Ready or Not: How Congressional Dysfunction and Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo will Shift U.S. Regulation of Emerging Technologies to the Federal Bench, SMU Law Review (forthcoming in March 2025). SSRN Top Ten Download List for Comparative Political Economy, Innovation & Regulatory Law & Policy, Innovation & Securities Law & Policy, Information Systems Legislation & Regulations (9/14/24, 9/15/24), International Political Economy (9/16/24), (9/17/24).
  • Unraveling the Legal Maze: USF Law’s Blockchain Law for Social Good Center Explores the Intersection of Law and Emerging Technologies (with Michele Neitz) (2024).
  • All Rise for the Honorable Judge: the Increasing Power of United States Courts in Crypto Asset Regulation. Revue Internationale Des Services Financiers / International Journal for Financial Services. Co-author Katherine Stromin (USFCA Law Student) (7/21/23). 
  • How to Regulate Blockchain’s Real-Life Applications: Lessons from the California Blockchain Working Group, 61 Jurimetrics J. 185–217 (2021) (peer-reviewed); SSRN Top Ten Download List for Computational, Emerging Legal Issues, Legislative & Political Process, Statutory Creation (2/23/21); Other Regulation: Emerging Legal Issues, Legislative & Political Process, Statutory Creation (4/10/21).
  • The Influencers: Facebook's Libra, Public Blockchains, and the Ethical Considerations of Centralization, 21 N.C.J.L & Tech 1 (2019); SSRN Top Ten Download List for Legal Ethics & Professional Responsibility (9/10/19); Innovation Areas (10/18/19); Cyberspace Law (10/30/19).
  • Pulling Back the Curtain: Implicit Bias in the Law School Dean Search Process, 49 Seton Hall Law Review 629 (2019); SSRN Top Ten Download List for Sexuality and the Law (9/19/18); Women, Gender and Law (9/19/18); Anti-Discrimination Law (9/20/18); Legal Education (10/19/18 and 10/27/18).
  • Hobby Lobby and Social Justice: How the Supreme Court Opened the Door for Socially Conscious Investors, 68 SMU Law Review 243 (2015); SSRN Top Ten download list for Corporate Law: LLCs, Close Corporations, Partnerships, & Other Private Enterprises (9/9/14); Corporations (9/12/14); Social Justice and Human Rights (9/17/14 and 9/20/14); Applied and Practicing Anthropology (9/23/14).
  • Socioeconomic Bias in the Judiciary, 61 Cleveland State Law Review 137 (2013); republished: Ashgate Library of Essays on Legal Ethics and the Enforcement of Law, Ashgate Press (2016); SSRN’s Top Ten download list for Judicial Decisionmaking (10/12/12, 10/16/12); Law and Courts & Law and Society (10/26/12); Law and Courts (11/13/12).
  • A Unique Bench, A Common Code: Judicial Ethics in Juvenile Court, 24 Georgetown Journal of Legal Ethics 97 (2011); republished in revised form: 62 Juvenile and Family Court Journal 32 (2011); SSRN's Top Ten download list for Judges (Criminal Procedure) (08/20/2010).
  • Crisis on the Immigration Bench: An Ethical Perspective, 73 Brooklyn Law Review 467 (2008); republished: 28 Journal of the National Association of Administrative Law Judiciary 471 (Fall 2008); SSRN's Top Ten download list for LC: Judicial Decisionmaking (2/21/08, 2/28/08).
  • The Key to Successful Independence: State-Funded Post-Secondary Educational Assistance for Former Foster Youth, 23 St. John’s Journal of Legal Commentary 383 (2008); SSRN’s Top Ten download list for Education Law: College & Graduate Education (8/21/09, 8/29/09, 9/20/09).
  • An Ounce of Prevention: A Foster Youth’s Substantive Due Process Right to Proper Preparation for Emancipation, 9 UC Davis Journal of Juvenile Law and Policy 381 (2005).