Space Law Program Launched

Space law is primarily governed by the domestic and international laws that determine the use and exploration of outer space and is anchored in legal frameworks drawn from maritime law and the law of the sea.

Tulane Law School will launch a new program in space law with a generous gift of $1 million from Darleen Jacobs (L ’81). The program will leverage Tulane’s world-leading strength in maritime law to address related legal issues now emerging with the private exploration and exploitation of space.

The gift will create the Judge S. Sanford Levy and Judge Anna Veters Levy Endowed Fund to be used exclusively to develop the space law program at Tulane. Jacobs made the gift in honor of her late husband, S. Sanford Levy, and his first wife, Judge Anna Veters Levy, who graduated from Newcomb College in 1913 and the Graduate School in 1915. Both Levys made significant contributions to the law in Louisiana.

Space law is primarily governed by the domestic and international laws that determine the use and exploration of outer space and is anchored in legal frameworks drawn from maritime law and the law of the sea. Tulane’s global leadership in these fields, as well as in international law and environmental law, position it uniquely to contribute to the study and development of space law.

Darleen Jacobs has donated $1 million to Tulane Law School to create the Judge S. Sanford Levy and Judge Anna Veters Levy Endowed Fund to develop a space law program at Tulane.

“Space law is a well-established field that was originally concerned principally with military and scientific uses of outer space,” said Professor Martin Davies, the director of the Tulane Center for Maritime Law. “The increasing use of space for commercial purposes raises new questions about the legal regulation of commercial activity in areas beyond the national sovereignty of any single country. Maritime law and the law of the sea have long experience with exactly those kinds of transnational questions, which is the value that Tulane, with its historic strengths in these fields, hopes to add to space law studies, thanks to this generous gift.”

Jacobs is a New Orleans native and a founding partner of Jacobs, Sarrat, Lovelace, Harris & Matthews.

“Space law in the next three years will be at the height of all corporate agendas,” said Jacobs. “It is time to move forward to the next level of legal challenges, and Tulane Law School is in the best position to do that.”

By: Alina Hernandez

Spring 2022