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Ph.D. Candidate Profiles

Jenné B. Ayers

Jenné B. Ayers

Jenné B. Ayers is a Ph.D. in Law candidate at Yale. She is a graduate of Harvard College and Yale Law School. Her research focuses on the laws, political institutions, and administrative agencies regulating local economies. This research draws upon local government law, constitutional law, the history of political thought, and empirical legal studies.

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Beau J. Baumann

Beau J. Baumann

Beau Baumann is a Ph.D. in Law candidate at Yale. His research is focused at the intersection of administrative law and legislation. His scholarship describes how institutional developments in Congress and ideas about congressional decline have affected administrative law doctrine. His work has been published in the Georgetown Law Journal, the Cornell Journal of Law and Public Policy, the Pace Law Review, and the online editions of the Notre Dame and University of Pennsylvania Law Reviews. His research at Yale is focused on the rise of the “congressional bureaucracy” and how congressional bureaucrats influenced the Progressive Era and the New Deal.

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Dwayne Betts

Dwayne Betts

Reginald Dwayne Betts is a Ph.D. in Law candidate at Yale. His major research interests are administrative law, criminal law, empirical legal studies, and law and literature. He holds a B.A. from the University of Maryland and a J.D. from Yale Law School. Prior to law school, Dwayne was a Radcliffe Fellow at Harvard’s Radcliffe Institute of Advanced Studies and a Soros Justice Fellow. In addition, he served by appointment of former President Barack Obama as a practitioner member of the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention.

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Danieli Evans

Danieli Evans Peterman

Danieli Evans Peterman is a Ph.D. in Law candidate at Yale, and a Research Scholar at the Justice Collaboratory at Yale Law School. Danieli researches and writes about the causes and consequences of social exclusion, alienation, and inequality. She aims to identify and develop alternatives that facilitate participation and engagement, and thereby encourage pro-social behavior and social/economic mobility. Danieli holds a B.A. from the University of Miami and a J.D. from Yale Law School. After law school, Danieli clerked for the Honorable Diane P. Wood of the Seventh Circuit and the Honorable Harry T. Edwards of the D.C. Circuit. She also practiced at Kellogg, Huber, Hansen, Todd, Evans & Figel, and then served as a fellow in constitutional studies at the National Constitution Center.

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Lauren Libby Headshot

Lauren Libby

Lauren Libby is a Ph.D. candidate in Yale Law School’s doctorate degree program. Her research focuses on the intersection of tax, constitutional law, and American legal history. Prior to joining Yale’s Ph.D. in Law program, Lauren practiced as an attorney at Covington & Burling LLP, advising corporate and individual clients on federal and international tax issues. Lauren has also testified before the United States Congress and the Pennsylvania General Assembly. Lauren’s work has appeared in Politico, as well as tax trade publications.

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Spencer Livingstone

Spencer Livingstone

Spencer Livingstone is a Ph.D. in Law candidate at Yale and a Resident Fellow of the Information Society Project. Originally from Toronto, Canada, he received his B.A. with honors in Philosophy from Hamilton College, and his J.D. magna cum laude from Harvard Law School. At Harvard, he served as the Articles, Book Reviews, and Commentaries Chair of the Harvard Law Review. Prior to his doctoral studies, he served as a law clerk in the chambers of the Honorable Michael J. Moldaver of the Supreme Court of Canada.

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Portia Pedro

Portia Pedro

Portia Pedro is a Ph.D. in Law candidate at Yale. Portia's work systematizes the study of civil procedure. She analyzes the ways that judges use decisionmaking processes to navigate the tensions between law and equity, standards and rules, and rule of law versus individualized justice. Portia holds a J.D. from Harvard Law School and a B.A. in International Development Studies from the University of California, Los Angeles. During law school, she served as Treasurer and Vice President of the Harvard Law Review. Prior to her doctoral studies, Portia served as a clerk to the Honorable Joseph A. Greenaway, Jr., of the Third Circuit. As a member of the New York State Bar, she practiced at Debevoise & Plimpton LLP as a litigation associate in New York, and as a John J. Gibbons Fellow in Public Interest and Constitutional Law at Gibbons P.C. in Newark, New Jersey.

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Adam Posluns

Adam Posluns

Adam Posluns is a Ph.D. in Law candidate at Yale and a Resident Fellow of the Information Society Project. His research interests include surveillance and digital privacy, online speech and misinformation, and constitutional and legal theory. Adam completed his LL.M. at Harvard Law School as a Fulbright Scholar. He holds a J.D. from the University of Toronto, Faculty of Law, where he was a Human Rights Fellow and a senior editor of the Law Review. He also has an M.A. from the University of Chicago, with a focus on moral and political theory, and a B.A. from McGill University. After law school, he worked as a litigator in Toronto and served as a judicial clerk.

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Amanda Shanor

Amanda Shanor

Amanda Shanor is a Ph.D. in Law candidate at Yale. Her research focuses on constitutional and administrative law, speech and association, and their intersection with the behavioral sciences. A graduate of Yale Law School and Yale College, Amanda served as a law clerk to the Honorable Cornelia T.L. Pillard and the Honorable Judith W. Rogers of the D.C. Circuit and the Honorable Robert W. Sweet of the Southern District of New York.

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