Research Interests

My research generally centers on law and language, including corpus linguistics, argumentation schemas and quasi-logical arguments, and AI and legal language and ethics. I examine how language shapes legal interpretation, argumentation, and professional communication, drawing from rhetorical theory, computational linguistics, and legal philosophy.

Much of my work explores how legal texts function in different interpretive communities, from courts and practitioners to the broader public. I am particularly interested in the intersection of corpus linguistics and legal reasoning, analyzing how linguistic patterns in judicial opinions and statutory language inform legal argumentation. My research also investigates the rhetorical and cognitive dimensions of legal discourse, focusing on argument structures, modality, and the persuasive strategies embedded in legal writing.

Another core area of my scholarship is the role of artificial intelligence in legal communication. I study how generative AI influences legal research, writing, and pedagogy, as well as the ethical and epistemic challenges it presents. My current projects address the ways in which AI-generated legal texts reinforce or disrupt traditional rhetorical frameworks, and how human trust in AI-generated content is shaped by linguistic factors such as modal language and certainty markers.

Across these areas, my work seeks to bridge the gap between traditional legal analysis and emerging linguistic and technological methodologies, contributing to a more nuanced understanding of law as both a textual and socio-rhetorical practice.

My current project is: Intertextuality, Reading the Law, and Understanding Precedent

Abstract: Legal texts are intrinsically intertextual – each case relies on prior utterances in terms of statutory or common law to establish precedent. However, thinking of a court’s decision as merely an interpretation of prior law would be an oversimplification. In political circles, we often think of judges as being activist or conservative depending on whether they expand on the law or merely interpret it. But interpretation is never a neutral act. Interpretation requires addition and subtraction – one must mold prior texts to fit current circumstances. Despite the admitted intertextual nature of legal texts, no one has systematically analyzed how a body of law is shaped through the intertextual interplay of prior law. My research aims to understand the rhetorical nature of law, legal precedents and legal writing.