I am a legal scholar specializing in legal theory and philosophy. In my research, I have focused primarily on what entities the legal system classifies as persons/subjects and which as things/objects. Traditionally, the persons of law have mainly been limited to human individuals and certain collective entities such as limited liability companies. More recently, the situation has changed and, for example, some animals and certain natural objects (e.g., rivers) have received recognition as persons or subjects. This issue is also pressing from the point of view of the legal status of artificial intelligence.
I have received several awards for my research, and my work on legal personhood has been cited in a number of US animal personhood trials.