Thomas R. Lee

Thomas R. Lee is the founder and a shareholder in Corpus Juris Advisors. As a former judge, a litigator, and an academic, he has pioneered the development of tools and theories aimed at assessing the public perception of the language of public and private law.

 

In the public law space, Lee opened a dialogue about the use of corpus linguistic tools in statutory interpretation in his judicial opinions in In re Adoption of Baby E.Z., 266 P.3d 702 (Utah 2011), and State v. Rasabout, 356 P.3d 1258 (Utah 2015). He refined the theory and methodology introduced in these opinions in pathbreaking academic publications. See Judging Ordinary Meaning, 127 Yale L. J. 788 (2018) (co-authored with Stephen Mouritsen); Data-Driven Originalism, 167 Penn. L. Rev. 261 (2019) (co-authored with James Phillips); and The Corpus and the Critics, 88 U. Chi. L. Rev. 275 (2021) (co-authored with Stephen Mouritsen). And he has been involved in the extension of the tools of corpus linguistics in numerous conferences, symposia, and training sessions for judges and litigators.

 

In the private law space, Lee has published important, interdisciplinary studies on the use of survey tools for assessing the public perception of trademarks. See An Empirical and Consumer Psychology Analysis of Trademark Distinctiveness, 41 Ariz. St. L. J. 1033-1109 (2009); Sophistication, Bridging the Gap, and the Likelihood of Confusion:  An Empirical and Theoretical Analysis, 98 Trademark Reporter 913 – 949 (2008); Trademarks, Consumer Psychology, and the Sophisticated Consumer, 57 Emory L. J. 575-650 (2008) (all co-authored with Glenn Christensen and Eric DeRosia). And he is pleased to note that his former law clerks have begun to explore the utility of corpus linguistic tools in both trademark cases and patent claim construction. See Neal A. Hoopes, Reclaiming the Primary Significance Test: Dictionaries, Corpus Linguists, and Trademark Genericide, 54 Tulsa L. Rev. 407 (2019); Neal Hoopes, Paxton M. Lewis & Amanda Black, Patent Claim Construction and Corpus Linguistics, 22 N.C. J. L. & Tech. 335 (2021).

 

Through Corpus Juris Advisors, Lee seeks to bring new rigor, transparency, and validity to the practice of consulting on matters of public understanding of the language of law. He is thrilled to be surrounded by an amazing team of distinguished experts. And he looks forward to the cutting-edge, interdisciplinary work that this team will introduce by bringing both survey and corpus methodologies to bear.