Faculty news

Matt Schmit Joins Silicon Flatirons as New Executive Director

Cecelia Tecu — Mon, 03 Nov 2025 16:32:38 +0000

Matt Schmit Joins Silicon Flatirons as New Executive Director Cecelia Tecu Mon, 11/03/2025 - 09:32

The University of Colorado Law School and the Silicon Flatirons Center for Law, Technology, and Entrepreneurship are pleased to announce that Matt Schmit has been named the new Executive Director of Silicon Flatirons.

Schmit joined the Silicon Flatirons team on September 29 and began his work as Director on November 1.

"I've long followed the work of the Silicon Flatirons Center and appreciated its impact on tech policy creation, its support of start-ups and innovation, and its commitment to students and their careers,” Schmit said. “Wherever possible, I've tried to replicate this approach elsewhere. I'm beyond honored to join the dynamic Silicon Flatirons team and carry its impactful legacy forward."

For the past 20 years, Matt has enjoyed consulting, research, policymaking, and program administration primarily in the areas of technology and innovation, infrastructure, and economic competitiveness.

He has worn various hats in pursuit of forward-thinking technology policy, applied research and innovation, and results-driven partnership: as a consultant engaging a wide variety of stakeholders, state legislatures, and policy issues; as academic researcher, published author, and active member of several national policy organizations; as a former state Senator, known for working with colleagues from diverse political and geographic backgrounds; and as a state official and higher education leader, focused on leveraging the full complement of higher education assets to promote technology expansion, foster strategic cross-sector collaboration, and inspire student and institutional interest and engagement.

Between 2013 and 2016 Matt represented his hometown of Red Wing, Minnesota, and surrounding areas in the Minnesota state Senate – where he championed creation of the country’s first dedicated office of broadband development and matching grant program. In this capacity, he served as chair of the Game & Fish Subcommittee; vice chair of the Jobs, Agriculture & Rural Development Committee; and active member on the Transportation Policy & Finance Conference Committee, Energy & Environment, Capital Investment, and Environment, Economic Development & Agriculture Finance committees.

More recently, Matt launched the Illinois Office of Broadband, chaired the Illinois Broadband Advisory Council, and oversaw creation of the Illinois Broadband Lab – a collaborative effort between the state and university system to build capacity, support local engagement, and meet critical federal funding deadlines.

Over his career, Matt has served on various boards and commissions, including but not limited to: the Cook County Council on Digital Equity (CODE), the Agricultural Utilization Research Institute (AURI) board, the Blandin Broadband Strategies board, the St John's University Board of Regents, and the Minnesota Legislative Water Commission. He represented Minnesota on the National Conference of State Legislatures Nuclear Energy Work Group and Commerce Committee, and he was an active member of the National Caucus of Environmental Legislators and State Agriculture and Rural Leaders.

Integration of 21st century infrastructure and service delivery has been a primary focus of his work – and his research. For over a decade, Matt maintained active membership on a standing committee of the Transportation Research Board, a branch of the National Academy of Sciences.

Matt received a masters in public policy from the University of Minnesota’s Humphrey School of Public Affairs and a bachelors in political science from Saint John’s University (Minnesota).

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Professor Sloan Speck Joins TaxProf Blog Team of Editors

Cecelia Tecu — Wed, 29 Oct 2025 15:07:02 +0000

Professor Sloan Speck Joins TaxProf Blog Team of Editors Cecelia Tecu Wed, 10/29/2025 - 09:07

The Press Release below was Initially Published by the AALS on Oct. 23, 2025. View the original piece here.

Congratulations to Professor Sloan Speck, who recently joined TaxProf Blog as one of their new editors. The blog is widely respected and influential, and focuses on U.S. tax law, legal education, and scholarship, news, and policymaking in these areas. Created and maintained by Paul L. Caron, Dean of Pepperdine University Caruso School of Law, TaxProf Blog ran on the Typepad platform from April 2004 to September 2025, publishing over 55,000 posts. It was recently acquired and is now hosted by the Association of American Law Schools (AALS), who will “... maintain the blog’s archives and host new content and personal reflections from Caron and a team of editors.”

“I am honored and thrilled to be named an editor of TaxProf Blog 2.0, and I am excited for my expanded role in producing and managing content for this public platform. I look forward to continuing Dean Caron’s important work for members of the tax community, law school faculty, and general audiences.”

Sloan Speck is Associate Professor of Law at the University of Colorado Law School. Professor Speck’s teaching and research focus on federal income taxation, with an emphasis on business entity taxation, tax planning, and tax policy. Professor Speck also has scholarly interests in legal education and pedagogy. Read the full press release below.

Press Release: Association of American Law Schools Welcomes TaxProf Blog to its News and Information Hub

We are pleased to announce that AALS is now the exclusive host of TaxProf Blog, a leading source for news, scholarship, and commentary on legal education and tax law for over 20 years. The blog is now available at taxprofblog.aals.org. Founded in 2004 by Paul L. Caron (Dean, Pepperdine Caruso School of Law), TaxProf Blog shut down on September 30 of this year due to the closure of the blogging platform Typepad. This marked the loss of an essential resource for the legal and academic communities: over 800,000 deans, professors, students, lawyers, and others visit TaxProf Blog each year. It is widely read by law professors and lawyers and was named to ABA Journal’s “Blawg 100” in 2013, as well as its “Hall of Fame.”

The AALS acquisition ensures the preservation of TaxProf Blog’s archives and its continued role in providing timely and relevant information to the legal education and tax law communities.

“Led by Paul Caron, TaxProf Blog has been a cornerstone for law school deans, law professors, and tax lawyers for decades and we are honored to bring it back and build on its legacy,” said Kellye Y. Testy, AALS Executive Director and Chief Executive Officer. “This addition reflects our commitment to creating resources for legal educators and helping build communities of scholars. We plan to develop similar resources in other substantive areas in the future and we are grateful to Dean Caron for his partnership in launching this effort.”

AALS will maintain the blog’s archives and host new content and personal reflections from Caron and a team of editors. Readers can expect the same news and posts on scholarship, events, data, commentary, and analysis that they have come to expect from the site.

“I could not be more excited about partnering with AALS to keep TaxProf Blog going,” said Caron. “This collaboration will guarantee the blog’s continued growth and accessibility, serving as a vital source of information for legal educators, scholars, and practitioners. I’m pleased to ensure the site’s continuity for years to come with the support of AALS and a community of legal education editors and tax editors.”

The Tax Editors on TaxProf Blog are:

Andrew D. Appleby, University of Tennessee Winston College of Law

Conor Clarke, Washington University School of Law

Jon Endean, Brooklyn Law School

Deanna Newton, Pepperdine Caruso School of Law

Shu-Yi Oei, Duke Law School

Sloan Speck, University of Colorado Law School

Legal Education Editors on TaxProf Blog are:

Alena Allen, Louisiana State University Paul M. Hebert Law Center

Michael Madison, University of Pittsburgh School of Law

Austen Parrish, AALS President and Dean, University of California Irvine School of Law

Michael Hunter Schwartz, University of the Pacific McGeorge School of Law

Additional editors and contributors will be announced in the coming weeks. Currently, the relaunched site hosts recent posts and archived content from 2004-13. The remaining historical posts will be added and the entire archive of more than 50,000 posts will be available in November.

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In Memoriam: Professor Arthur “Art” Hopkins Travers II

Robyn Munn — Tue, 16 Sep 2025 21:41:49 +0000

In Memoriam: Professor Arthur “Art” Hopkins Travers II Robyn Munn Tue, 09/16/2025 - 15:41

The University of Colorado Law School mourns the loss of Professor Arthur Hopkins Travers II, a beloved teacher, scholar, and colleague who shaped generations of Colorado Law students. Professor Travers—known to many as Art—passed away peacefully on July 31, 2025, just two days after his 89th birthday.

Professor Travers joined the Colorado Law faculty in 1970 after teaching at the University of Kansas and practicing law in Chicago. For more than three decades, he taught courses in copyright, commercial, and antitrust law. He also served as Acting Dean of the law school for one year during a time of transition, and in 1998 was honored as the inaugural recipient of the Clifford J. Calhoun Public Service Award, recognizing his commitment to service in the legal profession and community. Known for his clarity of thought and deep care for his students, he left an indelible mark on Colorado’s legal community.

During his tenure at Colorado Law, Professor Travers was admired not only for his scholarship but also for the humanity he brought to the study of law. His colleagues remember him as a friend to many, someone who embodied decency, thoughtfulness, and kindness.

Retired Colorado Law faculty member Mark Loewenstein reflected, “Art was incredibly smart and had a prodigious memory, which he drew upon even in his final days.”

Professor Emeritus, J. Dennis Hynes recalled, “Art was a wonderful friend. He was always a positive influence in faculty meetings and gatherings in the law school, treating colleagues with respect. He was reliable and punctual and was always positive and thoughtful with colleagues, students, and staff. He had a powerful intellect but never displayed arrogance or condescension. He was a remarkable human being.”

Beyond the classroom, Professor Travers enriched the intellectual life of the law school with his wide-ranging interests. He took a sabbatical year in London to study the English legal system, an experience that deepened his perspective and informed his teaching. His contributions to the field of business law were also reflected in his service to the broader profession, including chairing the Commercial Law Division of the Colorado Bar Association and co-chairing its committee on Revised Article 9 of the UCC, helping to shape its enactment in Colorado. His professional career was marked by a strong sense of integrity and a commitment to preparing students not just to practice law, but to approach it with fairness and compassion.

Dean Lolita Buckner Inniss shared, “Professor Travers was a pillar of our law school for more than three decades. We are profoundly grateful for his life and work, and he will be deeply missed.”

Professor Travers’s life outside of the law school was equally full. He was a voracious reader with a personal library numbering in the thousands of volumes, a devoted baseball fan—especially of the Chicago Cubs—a lover of music from classical to Billy Idol, and an avid cook who delighted in preparing meals for family and friends.

He is survived by his wife, Laurie Travers; his daughters, Constance Travers (Richard McDonald) of Boulder and Anne Travers (David Purdy) of Louisville; and his seven grandchildren, as well as extended family who loved him dearly.

Professor Travers’s legacy at Colorado Law endures in the many students he taught, mentored, and inspired over the course of his long career. We are grateful for his decades of service, his scholarship, and the profound example he set as a teacher and colleague. He will be deeply missed and fondly remembered by all who had the privilege to know him.

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Essentially a Mother: A Q&A with Jennifer Hendricks exploring her groundbreaking new book

Anonymous — Thu, 13 Jul 2023 18:47:39 +0000

Essentially a Mother: A Q&A with Jennifer Hendricks exploring her groundbreaking new book  Anonymous (not verified) Thu, 07/13/2023 - 12:47 Emily Battaglia

Jennifer Hendricks, professor of law and co-director of the Juvenile and Family Law Program, recently published a new book. Essentially a Mother: A Feminist Approach to the Law of Pregnancy and Motherhood argues that the law of pregnancy and motherhood has been overrun by sexist ideology. Over the past few decades, courts have held that a woman’s pregnancy hardly counts in her claim to parent her child and have stripped women of the right to abortion, treated surrogate mothers as mere vessels, and handed biological fathers automatic rights over women and their children. Essentially a Mother argues that feminists must overthrow this skewed value system and incorporate new kinds of feminist analysis that have been ignored in the law before now. 

In this interview, Professor Hendricks sits down with Colorado Law’s Emily Battaglia to chat about her new book, the inspiration behind it, and the contribution she hopes it provides to the legal field.  

Thank you so much, Professor Hendricks, for taking time to answer my questions. I would love to know: what was the inspiration behind this book?  

JH: Thanks so much for taking the time to talk. The cases I point to as the crux of the book are a series of court cases about IVF mix-ups. These are cases in which women who had been struggling with infertility finally became pregnant through IVF at a clinic, only to learn that they’d been given the wrong embryos; they were then be forced to turn over the babies to the genetic parents (or even to would-be parents who bought someone else’s egg or sperm). These are hard and tragic situations, and I’m not saying there’s an easy or obvious way these cases should be decided. But what’s appalling to me is how easy the courts think those cases are—how quick they are to dismiss the birth mother’s claim in favor of the genetic parents. They basically turn her into an involuntary surrogate. In some cases, the judges have been quite horrible about scolding the birth mother, telling her it was all her fault for letting herself get attached to the baby that she literally made with her body.  It’s an extreme example of how courts have come to define parenthood in terms of genes, to the exclusion of the actual work that parents do to create and care for their children—including not just pregnancy and birth, but all the caretaking that parents do after birth as well. 

On the flip side, this minimizing of pregnancy—treating it as irrelevant to parenthood—helped pave the way for the supreme court’s decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health, the case that overruled Roe v. Wade and eliminated the right to abortion. In that case, the Republicans on the supreme court told women that if they didn’t want a baby, they should just stay pregnant, give birth, and then place the baby for adoption. But we know that women who are denied abortions overwhelmingly reject adoption as an option. Why? Because an embryo is not the same as a baby, and having an abortion is not the same as giving up a child you’ve borne. Pregnancy is a lot of physical work, but it’s also very emotional for most people, so it leads to a bond even if it was forced on you in the first place. But the supreme court basically said pregnancy doesn’t matter, either physically or emotionally—it’s just an inconvenience. That’s the attitude that Essentially a Mother is trying to fight. 

What are the main points you hope readers take away from reading this book?  

JH: I hope to convince people that the law should define parenthood primarily in terms of caretaking for the child; and critically, the process of gestation and childbirth should be considered “caretaking” that establishes parental rights as soon as the child is born. Genes alone, without any caretaking, should not be enough. Fathers and others who don’t gestate their children can take care of them in other ways, and that caretaking should count more than just genes. We often romanticize pregnancy as some blissful, magical state, but we don’t give it real importance in terms of rights; while with fathers, we focus only on genes and child support. My argument is that, on the one hand, the law shouldn’t be acting like babies just appear out of nowhere when they’re born, with no connection to the person they just popped out of. On the other hand, the law also shouldn’t act like giving birth creates a mystical connection that is superior to other ways of becoming a parent. 

  More generally, I want people to see the connections between losing the right to abortion and denigrating pregnancy in other areas of the law, and in our culture. Women are suffering horribly, every day, from the loss of Roe v. Wade. As we fight to win back the right to abortion, we have the chance to do it in a much broader way that will protect everyone’s reproductive rights and freedoms. We must overthrow the entire skewed value system, currently enshrined in the law, that subordinates women, devalues pregnancy and other forms of caregiving, and denies too many people the right to choose whether to become parents and to raise their families with dignity and security. 

Can you talk about how this book builds upon your previous work? 

JH: Essentially a Mother is the culmination of work I’ve been doing on these issues for about fifteen years. The IVF mix-up cases are the tip of the iceberg in terms of how the genetic definition of parenthood has taken over family law. Defining parenthood in terms of genes is, at its root, a sexist approach to the law. It says that a pregnant woman’s nine months of gestation count for basically nothing when it comes to her claim to be the parent of the child she bears. Armed with this notion of parenthood, courts have handed biological fathers—even those who become fathers through rape—automatic rights over women and their children. 

Part of the problem is a logical error that courts make in terms of what it means for the law to be sex-neutral. To me, the core of parenthood is caretaking for a child, so parental rights should be based on a caretaking relationship. That caretaking can come in a variety of forms, including pregnancy. Many courts and scholars, however, have implicitly concluded that pregnancy and childbirth cannot be part of the definition of parenthood, because that would be unfair to men. That means that genes are all that’s left for identifying the parents at the time the child is born. But that isn’t sex-neutral; that’s discrimination against the people who get pregnant, because you’re refusing to count this huge thing that they did. 

The focus on genes also ends up hurting men who put a lot into taking care of their kids. When courts are judging fathers, the one thing they are likely to consider in addition to genes is whether a man paid child support. In one case, the supreme court denied parental rights to an unmarried father who had raised his son all by himself, because he’d never filed the paperwork to formally take financial responsibility. It’s all part of a pattern where the actual, physical labor of creating, birthing, and raising a child just doesn’t count for much in the law.  

With this work, what perspective do you hope to add to the current field of research in this area?   

JH: One of the things I talk about in the book is that a lot of feminist legal scholars have been surprisingly supportive of legal rules that minimize the importance of pregnancy. I think that’s because, abortion aside, a huge amount of feminist legal work is focused on employment law and constitutional law. In those fields, most of the fights in the past have been about women trying to win the same privileges as men by showing they are just as good as men at being a lawyer or a soldier or whatever. But family law is one of the most dynamic and exciting fields in legal scholarship right now, and it also has the most experience grappling with issues about gender and relationships. Essentially a Mother challenges constitutional lawyers to confront and incorporate new kinds of feminist analysis that have been ignored in the law before now. 

The book is available for order at your local bookstore, from online booksellers, and from the University of California Press.

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