SOLID

The 2025 Symposium on Legal Interpretation and Data

March 14, 2025 ⸿ Georgetown University Law Center

This event convenes scholars of law, philosophy, linguistics, and computer science to discuss new empirical approaches to questions in legal interpretation. An international group of distinguished panelists will confront such questions as:

How do ordinary usage, background knowlege, and textual and extra-textual context contribute to the meaning of a piece of text?
What datasets and empirical methods can aid in textual analysis of the law?
Whose language is (or should be) represented in the negotiation of legal meaning?
Can large language models (LLMs) be trusted to answer questions about ordinary meaning?

The program will include four pre-read panels and a keynote talk by Cleo Condoravdi (Stanford University).

How to Attend
Program

Logistics

When: Friday, March 14, 9:00am-5:00pm

Where: 12th floor of the Gewirz Student Center, 120 F St NW, Washington, DC; and broadcast via Zoom (link provided to registered virtual attendees)

Register
Deadline for in-person registration: March 7 (subject to space limitations). Registration is free.
Virtual attendance via Zoom is also possible.

Papers and other information will be shared with registered participants.

Organizing Committee:

Prof. Kevin Tobia, Georgetown University Law Center
Prof. Nathan Schneider, Georgetown University, Linguistics and Computer Science
Dr. Brandon Waldon, Georgetown University, Linguistics and Computer Science and Massive Data Institute

This event is supported by a Georgetown University Global Engagement Grant.

March 14 Program

GULC Gewirz Student Center, 12th floor

9:00	Breakfast, Organizers’ Welcome
9:15	Panel 1: Perspectives from Law Moderator: Anita Krishnakumar Super-Canons William Eskridge Jr. Originalism as the New Legal Standard: A Data-Driven Perspective Neel U. Sukhatme & Victoria Nourse The Canons of Liberty Brian G. Slocum Algorithmic Interpretation in Islamic Law Intisar A. Rabb
10:45	Coffee Break
11:00	Panel 2: Perspectives from Linguistics Moderator: Brandon Waldon Harmful Speech David Beaver The dual character of lying and perjury Izabela Skoczeń Legal Ambiguities: What Can Psycholinguistics Tell Us? Janet Randall "Any" Questions: Lexical Vagueness or Structural Ambiguity? Elizabeth Coppock & Jill C. Anderson
12:30	Lunch + Keynote talk by Cleo Condoravdi
1:30	Panel 3: Perspectives from Computer Science & AI Moderator: Lisa Singh The State Statutes Project Neel Guha Traditional and Computational Canons Eric Martínez How Reliable are AI Judges? Evidence and Best Practices Jonathan H. Choi Large Language Models for Legal Interpretation? Don't Take their Word for It Brandon Waldon, Nathan Schneider, Ethan Wilcox, Amir Zeldes & Kevin Tobia Agent-Specific Deontic Modality Detection in Legal Language Rachel Rudinger
3:00	Coffee Break
3:15	Panel 4: Perspectives from Philosophy Moderator: Roseanna Sommers Theory of Mind in Legal Interpretation Ivar Hannikainen Evidence of conceptual mastery in the application of rules by Large Language Models Guilherme Almeida Legal Interpretation and Settlement Behavior Piotr Bystranowski Is Originalism Common Sense? James A. Macleod Understanding rule enforcement using drift diffusion models Neele Engelmann
4:45	Coffee Break & Closing

Design: HTML5 UP // Photo Credit: Paul B. Jones / Georgetown University