Michele Neitz

Michele Benedetto Neitz joined the University of San Francisco School of Law in January 2022. She is the Founder and Academic Director of the Center for Law, Tech, and Social Good, formerly known as the Blockchain Law for Social Good Center, which was the first of its kind in the United States. She teaches Blockchain Technology and the Law, Business Associations, Legal Ethics, and other classes. Prior to joining USF Law, Professor Neitz was voted “Most Outstanding Professor” by the graduating class of Golden Gate University School of Law six times, most recently in 2022.  

Professor Neitz was appointed to advise the California legislature as a member of the California Blockchain Working Group in 2019. She is a current member of the United Nations Development Programme’s Discussion Group on AI and Development in Latin America and the Caribbean, as well as the New York State Department of Financial Services’ Virtual Currency Advisory Board. She publishes and lectures regularly on the ethical, regulatory, and social impact issues in emerging technology.  

Professor Neitz graduated as a Root-Tilden-Scholar from New York University School of Law. Before joining academia, she clerked in the Southern District of California. She also worked as an Equal Justice Works fellow at the Legal Aid Society of San Diego and was an associate at Morrison & Foerster. 

• Blockchain/Web 3 law and regulation
• Ethics in technology
• Corporate law
• Legal ethics
• Implicit bias
• Judicial ethics
• Emerging technology law

• Emerging technology
• Law and regulation

• New York University School of Law, JD (Honors: Root-Tilden-Kern Public Interest Scholar)
• Santa Clara University, BA (Honors: Valedictorian Finalist)

• Clerk, Southern District of California for Judge Napoleon Jones
• Equal Justice Works fellow, Legal Aid Society of San Diego
• Associate, Morrison & Foerster

• GGU Law Gorfinkel/Calhoun Award for Outstanding Professor (voted by graduating class), 2009, 2013, 2014, 2016, 2020, 2022
• GGU Law Student Bar Association Law Professor of the Year (voted by student organizations), 2018
• GGU Law Justice Jesse W. Carter Faculty Scholarship Award, 2010
• GGU Law Multicultural Graduation Diversity Award, 2009

Last Five Years

• Ready or Not: How Congressional Dysfunction and Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo will Shift U.S. Regulation of Emerging Technologies to the Federal Bench, SMU Law Review (forthcoming in March 2025). SSRN Top Ten Download List for Comparative Political Economy, Innovation & Regulatory Law & Policy, Innovation & Securities Law & Policy, Information Systems Legislation & Regulations (9/14/24, 9/15/24), International Political Economy (9/16/24), (9/17/24). 
• Unraveling the Legal Maze: USF Law’s Blockchain Law for Social Good Center Explores the Intersection of Law and Emerging Technologies, co-authored with Professor Charles Belle, USF Law Review Forum, May 20, 2024. 
• Power Shift: The Effects of Congressional Inaction on Emerging Technology Law,” CoinDesk (October 17, 2023).
• All Rise for the Honorable Judge: the Increasing Power of United States Courts in Crypto Asset Regulation, 3 Revue Internationale des Services Financiers / International Journal for Financial Services 160 (October 2023), co-authored with USF Law student Katherine Stromin;  reprinted in PLI Course Handbook, "Blockchain and Digital Assets 2023: Key Issues for the Digital Future," December 2023. 
• How to Regulate Blockchain’s Real-Life Applications: Lessons from the California Blockchain Working Group, 61 Jurimetrics J. 185–217 (2021) (peer-reviewed); SSRN Top Ten Download List for Computational, Emerging Legal Issues, Legislative & Political Process, Statutory Creation (2/23/21); Other Regulation: Emerging Legal Issues, Legislative & Political Process, Statutory Creation (4/10/21).
• The Influencers: Facebook's Libra, Public Blockchains, and the Ethical Considerations of Centralization, 21 N.C.J.L & Tech 1 (2019); SSRN Top Ten Download List for Legal Ethics & Professional Responsibility (9/10/19); Innovation Areas (10/18/19); Cyberspace Law (10/30/19). 
• Pulling Back the Curtain: Implicit Bias in the Law School Dean Search Process, 49 Seton Hall Law Review 629 (2019); SSRN Top Ten Download List for Sexuality and the Law (9/19/18); Women, Gender and Law (9/19/18); Anti-Discrimination Law (9/20/18); Legal Education (10/19/18 and 10/27/18).

Podcasts/Media Coverage

• Interviewed by Grace Cathedral Forum Podcast, Blockchain for Social Good, June 2, 2024.
• Quoted in Bloomberg Law, Crypto Case Tests SEC’s Ability to Police Blockchain Technology, May 17, 2024. 
• Quoted in ALM/Law.com, ‘Tough Decisions Ahead’: After Grayscale Ruling, Lawyers Eye SEC’s Next Move, August 31, 2023. 
• DW News (German Broadcast Television Interview), Worldcoin woes as cryptocurrency faces tighter US scrutiny, August 28, 2023. 

• Unraveling the Legal Maze: USF Law’s Blockchain Law for Social Good Center Explores the Intersection of Law and Emerging Technologies (with Michele Neitz) (2024).
• All Rise for the Honorable Judge: the Increasing Power of United States Courts in Crypto Asset Regulation. Revue Internationale Des Services Financiers / International Journal for Financial Services. Co-author Katherine Stromin (USFCA Law Student) (7/21/23). 
• How to Regulate Blockchain’s Real-Life Applications: Lessons from the California Blockchain Working Group, 61 Jurimetrics J. 185–217 (2021) (peer-reviewed); SSRN Top Ten Download List for Computational, Emerging Legal Issues, Legislative & Political Process, Statutory Creation (2/23/21); Other Regulation: Emerging Legal Issues, Legislative & Political Process, Statutory Creation (4/10/21).
• The Influencers: Facebook's Libra, Public Blockchains, and the Ethical Considerations of Centralization, 21 N.C.J.L & Tech 1 (2019); SSRN Top Ten Download List for Legal Ethics & Professional Responsibility (9/10/19); Innovation Areas (10/18/19); Cyberspace Law (10/30/19).
• Pulling Back the Curtain: Implicit Bias in the Law School Dean Search Process, 49 Seton Hall Law Review 629 (2019); SSRN Top Ten Download List for Sexuality and the Law (9/19/18); Women, Gender and Law (9/19/18); Anti-Discrimination Law (9/20/18); Legal Education (10/19/18 and 10/27/18).
• Hobby Lobby and Social Justice: How the Supreme Court Opened the Door for Socially Conscious Investors, 68 SMU Law Review 243 (2015); SSRN Top Ten download list for Corporate Law: LLCs, Close Corporations, Partnerships, & Other Private Enterprises (9/9/14); Corporations (9/12/14); Social Justice and Human Rights (9/17/14 and 9/20/14); Applied and Practicing Anthropology (9/23/14).
• Socioeconomic Bias in the Judiciary, 61 Cleveland State Law Review 137 (2013); republished: Ashgate Library of Essays on Legal Ethics and the Enforcement of Law, Ashgate Press (2016); SSRN’s Top Ten download list for Judicial Decisionmaking (10/12/12, 10/16/12); Law and Courts & Law and Society (10/26/12); Law and Courts (11/13/12).
• A Unique Bench, A Common Code: Judicial Ethics in Juvenile Court, 24 Georgetown Journal of Legal Ethics 97 (2011); republished in revised form: 62 Juvenile and Family Court Journal 32 (2011); SSRN's Top Ten download list for Judges (Criminal Procedure) (08/20/2010).
• Crisis on the Immigration Bench: An Ethical Perspective, 73 Brooklyn Law Review 467 (2008); republished: 28 Journal of the National Association of Administrative Law Judiciary 471 (Fall 2008); SSRN's Top Ten download list for LC: Judicial Decisionmaking (2/21/08, 2/28/08).
• The Key to Successful Independence: State-Funded Post-Secondary Educational Assistance for Former Foster Youth, 23 St. John’s Journal of Legal Commentary 383 (2008); SSRN’s Top Ten download list for Education Law: College & Graduate Education (8/21/09, 8/29/09, 9/20/09).
• An Ounce of Prevention: A Foster Youth’s Substantive Due Process Right to Proper Preparation for Emancipation, 9 UC Davis Journal of Juvenile Law and Policy 381 (2005).