UNL Looks to Expand Space Law Program
By Melissa Lee / Lincoln Journal Star
By Melissa Lee / Lincoln Journal Star
This is what it’s like to sit in on Matt Schaefer’s space law course at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
One hour, 15 minutes, no breaks. Laptop keyboards clicking furiously. Scribbles on the board in a language that seems foreign.
A question from the front of the room — “Who’s on each side of a commercial space contract?” — and a sudden wave of panic, as if you might be the one called on. (Must avoid eye contact...)
And a whole new respect for a field of law that at first sounds a bit like it’s pulled from “Star Trek” but is actually a booming industry beginning to take its American roots in a pressure-cooked classroom on East Campus.
UNL announced in March that Schaefer, a law professor, would teach the university’s first course in space law, with the eventual goal of NU becoming the nation’s leading space law educator.
Ten weeks into the fall semester, it appears Schaefer & Co. are well on their way.
Exhibit A: Schaefer has helped arrange a space and telecommunications law conference for March 2, 2007, that features an eye-popping list of guest speakers. Among them: Gen. James Cartwright, U.S. Strategic Command commander, and numerous professors from the world’s leading space law institutions.
Exhibit B: Feedback from Schaefer’s course has been so positive that the law faculty recently voted to add a space law specialty program to the College of Law beginning in fall 2008. Pending administrative approval and available finances, the law college would hire two new faculty to prepare students to enter what this year is expected to be a $1.1 trillion industry.
“Word’s getting around,” Schaefer said. “I think it’s going really good.”
Lawyers trained in space law can help write treaties that divide resources in outer space, such as mineral reserves.
Space law also is closely linked to telecommunications law, as companies increasingly put cell phone and TV satellites into outer space.
Lawyers trained in these fields can hold big-time jobs in the military, NASA, StratCom and more.
David Koesters, one of the dozen students in Schaefer’s class and an officer candidate in the U.S. Army, may someday land just such a job.
The course has been challenging, he said, and is likely to become more so, as Schaefer’s final assignment will ask students to propose reforms to current international space law policy.
But Koesters, a second-year law student, expects the course to help him in his career and especially in his military training.
“You don’t really know what the challenge is until it hits you,” he said.
For third-year law student Sabrina Jensen, the course will add a unique ingredient to her specialty in international law.
“I think it’s really cool,” Jensen said. “And fun. It seems ‘Star Wars’-esque, but it may come up sooner than people think.”
NU President J.B. Milliken has long hoped to strengthen the university’s ties with StratCom at nearby Offutt Air Force Base.
A better relationship, he believes, means NU could start grabbing small parts of the military budget for research and education.
StratCom officials also are eager to have military research happening in their own backyard, Milliken said.
He stands fully behind the space law program. And he predicts it won’t be long before NU has the best program in the country.
“I think this is a real opportunity for Nebraska,” Milliken said. “I’m really pleased.
“We will invest resources in this.”
Reach Melissa Lee at 473-2682 or mlee@journalstar.com.
Jobs in space law
Lawyers with space law specialties can choose among a growing number of jobs. They can seek legal and policy positions in:
* Telecommunications companies
* Government (includes the State Department, NASA and the Federal Aviation Administration)
* Military (includes Pentagon, StratCom and Air Force)
* Space tourism companies
* Satellite companies
. . .
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