James A. Rahl/Owen L. Coon Senior Research Program
The James A. Rahl/Owen L. Coon Senior Research Program gives third-year Northwestern Law students the opportunity to work closely with our renowned faculty exploring answers to challenging questions of doctrine and policy. Due to the generosity of the Owen L. Coon Foundation and other donors, there is a fund to support empirical research expenses of projects. Students are placed with supervising professors, experts in their field, to conduct research on the most pertinent current and historical legal issues.
Senior Research Rules (pdf)
Current Projects
2021-2022
| Supervising Faculty | Student | Project Topic |
| Pfander, James | Alley, Rex | The Historical Development of the Federal Tort Claims Act |
| Zimmerman, Clifford | Atseff, Emily | Senior Research Honors: Understanding Race & Caste in America to Reimagine Title VII |
| Carrel, Alyson | Busch, Anna | Negotiation Technology: Impact and Opportunity |
| Walker Sterling, Robin | Cange, Gloria | The Descramble for Africa: A Comparison of the Legal Ramifications after the Colonization and Decolonization of the African Continent |
| Delaney, Erin | Carbery, Benjamin | The Challenge of “New Style” Judicial Elections to Theories of Democratic Criminal Justice Reform |
| Calabresi, Steven | Carneiro, Henrique | Dueling Moderating Powers |
| Carrel, Alyson | Chokshi, Sohum | Corporate Feudalism |
| Bedi, Sheila | Cooney, Barrett | Honing the American Death Penalty: Practical and Ethical Implications of Expanded Exemptions to Capital Punishment |
| Pedraza-Fariña, Laura | Cure Dominguez, Alvaro | Reverse Survivorship Bias: A Look into Effect and Impact of Overlooked Low-Value Patents on Innovation and Social Welfare |
| Sorensen, Juliet | Davis, Amanda | Magnitsky Research |
| Horwich, Allan | Davis, Matthew | The Old Rule is the Correct Rule: Why the Ninth Circuit Should not Have Rejected the Tracing Requirement in Section 11 Claims |
| Redish, Martin | Dhanoa, Sudeep | Mootness, Case or Controversy, and Separation of Powers |
| Pfander, James | Douglas, Peter | Law, Equity, and Supplemental Jurisdiction |
| Rubinowitz, Leonard | Edmonds, Alexandra | Accommodating Online Spaces in E-commerce: An Examination of the Americans with Disabilities Act and the European Accessibility Act |
| Rubinowitz, Leonard | Edmonds, Maximilian | Justice 2.0: An Examination of the Legal and Social Implications of Algorithmic Policing Technologies |
| Redish, Martin | Hiltner, Victor | Adversary Democratic Due Process |
| Linna Jr., Daniel | Hurtado, Melissa | Artificial Solutions, Real Justice: How AI Legal Tech Solutions Can Improve Client Outcomes and Access to Justice |
| Schwartz, David | Jin, Rebecca | Gender Disparities in USPTO Patent Examination |
| Delaney, Erin | Junaid, Wafa | Colonial Constitutionalism and the Judiciary |
| Levine, Lisa | King, Michael | Examining the Process and Costs of Equitable Resolutions for Athletes, NGBs, and the USOPC |
| Hoeflich, Adam | Kriegel, Oren | Legal Ethics and MDL |
| Rountree, Meredith | Kurland, Kara | Requirements to Properly File State Post-conviction Petitions in Order to Toll AEDPA’s One-year Statute of Limitations on Federal Habeas Review |
| Spitzer, Matthew | Lee, Yongho | The Future of the Law on the Moon |
| Loeb, Nancy | Lempke, Cole | Senior Research Honors: Using the Endangered Species Act to Mitigate Climate Change |
| Rodriguez, Daniel | Matthews, Blair | Reparations are Owed - A Case for the American Decedents of Slavery |
| Redish, Martin | Piatt, Austin | The Paradox of the Administrative State |
| Kugler, Matthew | Ray, Alexandria | Is the CPRA’s Sensitive Personal Information Provision the Future of Privacy Protections for Vulnerable Populations? |
| Calabresi, Steven | Riahi, Nima | Islam and Constitutionalism: The Argument for the Indonesian Model |
| Wang, Xiao | Salzetta, Anthony | Unpuzzling Complete Preemption: BNB v. Anderson After 20 Years |
| Linna Jr., Daniel | Sheehan, Kimberly | How Innovation and Technology Adoption Has Changed and How it is Influencing Corporate Law Practice |
| Allen, Ronald | Smiciklas, Christopher | The Law's Aversion to Naked Statistics and Other Mistakes |
| Allen, Ronald | Smiciklas, Christopher | Minimal Rationality and the Law of Evidence |
| Francis, Clinton | Taylor, Anthony | Blockchain’s Smart Contracts and Applications to the Market |
| McGinnis, John | Yang, Xiaorui | Senior Research Honors: The Roberts Court’s Counter-Reformation in Administrative Law |