Carla L. Reyes

Carla L. Reyes is an Associate Professor of Law at SMU Dedman School of Law. Professor Reyes is a nationally and internationally recognized leader on issues raised by the intersection of business law and technology. Professor Reyes is a Faculty Fellow at the SMU Hunt Institute for Engineering and Humanity at the SMU Lyle School of Engineering, and serves as a faculty affiliate with the Initative for CryptoCurrencies and Contracts (IC3) and the University College London Centre for Blockchain Research. Professor Reyes also currently serves as the Research Director for the Uniform Law Commission’s Technology Committee, an Associate Research Director of the Permanent Editorial Board of the Uniform Commercial Code, and an Expert Member of the UNIDROIT Work Group on Best Practices for Effective Enforcement.

Professor Reyes’ scholarship has been published in law journals at George Washington, William & Mary, Washington & Lee, Wisconsin, University of Washington, and Fordham. She is the co-author of Business Organizations: An Experiential Approach (Carolina Academic Press 2022, with Carliss Chatman). She has presented her research at international conferences in Italy, France, Luxembourg, Austria, Australia, and Columbia, as well as at law schools across the country such as Yale, Harvard, University of Michigan, Wisconsin, Northwestern University, and Cardozo, among others.

Professor Reyes has been an integral participant in legal reform efforts related to blockchain technologies and cryptocurrencies. Professor Reyes served as an Advisor to the Uniform Law Commission and American Law Institute 2022 Amendments to the Uniform Commercial Code, served as an Expert Member of the UNIDROIT Work Group on Private Law and Digital Assets which drafted UNIDROIT principles designed to serve as starting point for legal harmonization of commercial law rules for digital assets, and served as Chair of the Texas Work Group on Blockchain Matters.

Professor Reyes’ has received several honors for her work. She was named an American Bar Foundation Fellow in June 2021 and named one of the Women of Legal Tech 2020, an honor bestowed by the American Bar Association Legal Technology Resource Center. Additionally, she received the 2023 American Legal Technology Award in Education and was elected to the American Law Institute in December 2023. Prior to joining SMU Dedman School of Law, Professor Reyes served Michigan State University College of Law as an Assistant Professor of Law and Director of the Center for Law, Technology & Innovation, and taught Business Enterprises, Technology Transactions, Artificial Intelligence & the Law, and Blockchain Law & Policy. Prior to teaching law, Professor Reyes practiced law as an associate in the Blockchain Technology and Digital Currency industry group at Perkins Coie LLP.

A former Fulbright Scholar, Professor Reyes had the opportunity to pursue her research as a Faculty Associate at the Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University from September 2017-August 2019. Professor Reyes also actively contributes to blockchain technology initiatives at the Stanford CodeX as a RegTrax Curator, MIT’s Cryptoeconomic Systems program, and the American Bar Association.