The importance of the network paradigm is increasingly recognized by scientists and social scientists in a wide variety of disciplines.  This symposium explores the legal policy implications of the network structure of various types of social interactions and the ways in which the interdisciplinary study of networks might contribute to legal scholarship.
Symposium sponsored by: Center for Advanced Study; College of Law Program in Intellectual Property and Technology Law; National Center for Supercomputing Applications

Organized by Jay Kesan (UIUC) and Katherine Strandburg (DePaul University)

Morning Session
Noshir Contractor, UIUC--Network Theory: Multi-Theoretical Multi-Level (MTML)
Models for the Emergence of Social Networks

Panel: Social and Communications Networks

Lior Jacob Strahilevitz, University of Chicago Social Network Theory and Speech Regulation
Andrea M. Matwyshyn, University of Florida--A Network Theory Perspective on Information Security Regulation

Commentator:  Jim Chen, University of Minnesota

Afternoon Session
Alessandro Vespignani, Indiana University--Network Science: From the Konigsberg Bridge to the Internet Evolution

Panel: Legal Citation Networks

Thomas A. Smith, University of San Diego
Antonio Tomarchio, Politecnico di Milano
Dynamics of the U.S. Supreme Court Citation Network

Seth J. Chandler, University of Houston--The Network Structure of the Law

Commentator:  Eric Rasmusen, Indiana University

Panel: Patent Citation Networks

Katherine J. Strandburg, DePaul University--The Patent System as a Growing Network: Using Patent Citations to Illuminate Patent Policy

Gavin Clarkson, University of Michigan--Patent Informatics for Patent Thicket Detection: A Network Analytic Approach for Measuring the Density of Patent Space

Commentator: Jay Kesan, UIUC