Privacy Law Scholars Conference (PLSC); University of California, Los Angeles

Conference: Privacy Law Scholars Conference (PLSC); University of California, Los Angeles

REPORT:

I had the opportunity to attend the 2025 Privacy Law Scholars Conference (PLSC) held at UCLA School of Law. The experience was profoundly valuable to my doctoral research and professional development, offering an unparalleled opportunity to engage with leading scholars and practitioners in the field of privacy law. As a JSD candidate focusing on consumer digital privacy and the case for a harmonized global privacy framework, attending PLSC allowed me to refine my research and further integrate it into broader academic and policy debates.

PLSC stands apart from traditional academic conferences in its structure and ethos. It is not a forum for formal presentations, but rather for rigorous, collaborative critique. Scholars submit papers in advance, which are then discussed in intensive sessions facilitated by expert commentators and engaged participants. I had the chance to participate in several such sessions, where I contributed to the discussions of other scholars' work while also engaging in one-on-one conversations about my dissertation project. These sessions were highly generative for my own thinking. The feedback I received from leading figures in the field, including those working on transatlantic privacy regimes, constitutional dimensions of privacy, and the ethics of AI governance, helped me clarify the legal and normative stakes of my arguments.

Beyond the academic program, the conference also fostered meaningful community and networking. I met several junior and senior scholars who are working on similar questions. These encounters opened doors for potential collaborations and future feedback exchanges, which are especially important for an interdisciplinary and globally-oriented project like mine.

In terms of concrete outcomes, I returned from PLSC with an annotated set of notes on how to improve the framing and scope of my dissertation chapters. I plan to submit an article-length version of one of my chapters to a journal whose editors I met at the conference..

Overall, attending PLSC was a transformative experience that has deepened the quality of my research and widened my intellectual and professional horizons. I am immensely grateful to the Kellogg Institute for its support, without which this opportunity would not have been possible. The conference reaffirmed my belief in the importance of global scholarly dialogue in shaping the future of privacy rights, and I am committed to continuing this work with the benefit of the insights and relationships gained during my time at UCLA.