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Emily Behzadi Cárdenas

Emily Behzadi Cárdenas

Associate Professor of Law

Phone
(619) 525-1689
Department
Faculty

Biography

Professor Emily Behzadi Cárdenas' scholarly pursuits and pedagogical focus intersect the domains of art and cultural heritage law, with a specific focus on Latin America.  Professor Behzadi Cárdenas' research centers on the interrelation between the law and the arts, within both national and international contexts. This research is informed by her academic background in art history. The focus of her scholarly work revolves around the convergence of cultural heritage law, human rights, and social justice. One of the most significant aspects of her published works is the examination of cultural heritage as a means of both expression and marginalization. In her scholarly work, Professor Behzadi Cárdenas has extensively investigated the utilization of acts of plunder, destruction, and occasionally the construction of cultural heritage artifacts as a means of exerting oppression and persecution. The author's publications have appeared in prestigious academic journals affiliated with renowned institutions such as Stanford University Law School, Georgetown University Law Center, Vanderbilt Law School, University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School, Rutgers Law School, and University of Toronto, among others.  Professor Behzadi Cárdenas has served on numerous panels for such organizations as the American Bar Association and Association of American Law Schools. 

Professor Behzadi Cárdenas is the Chair of the Cultural Heritage Section of the American Society of International Law, the Vice Chair of the International Division of the ABA’s Forum on the Entertainment and Sports Industries, and an Executive Committee member of the AALS Art Law Section. Prior to joining the faculty at California Western School of Law, Professor Behzadi Cárdenas was an Adjunct Professor at Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University College of Law and Barry University, Dwayne O. Andreas School of Law. As an attorney, Professor Behzadi Cárdenas practiced in the areas of art and entertainment law, including intellectual property, contracts, immigration, and civil litigation. Professor Behzadi Cárdenas was recognized as one of the ABA's "40 Top Young Lawyers" and one of the Orlando Business Journal’s 40 under 40. In 2022, Professor Behzadi Cárdenas was awarded CWSL’s Professor of the Year. Most recently, she was awarded the SALT Junior Faculty Award. 

  • J.D. Georgetown University Law Center
  • M.A. New York University
  • B.A. Florida Southern College
  • Property,
  • Copyright,
  • Art & Cultural Heritage Law, and
  • Latinos & the Law

Visit Professor Behzadi's SSRN Author Page.

Law Review Publications

  • Emily Behzadi Cárdenas, Progressive Copyright Theory, 84 Maryland Law Review (forthcoming 2025) 
  • Emily Behzadi Cárdenas, National Security or National Origin? The Implications of Florida’s Alien Land Law Under the Federal Fair Housing Act, 75 S.C. L REV (forthcoming) 
  • Emily Behzadi Cárdenas, Desettling Fixation, 102 N.C.L. REV (forthcoming 2024). 
  • Emily Behzadi Cárdenas, Cassirer v. Thyssen-Bornemisza Collection Foundation (U.S. Sup. Ct.), 62 Int'l Legal Materials 100 (2023).
  • Emily Behzadi Cárdenas, His Ship Has Sailed—Expelling Columbus from Cultural Heritage Law, 56 Vand. J. Transnat'l L. 315 (2023).
  • Emily Behzadi Cárdenas, The Fiction of NFTs and Copyright Infringement, University of Penn. L. Rev. Online (2022)
  • Emily Behzadi Cárdenas, Statues of Fraud: Confederate Monuments as Public Nuisances, 18 Stan. J. C.R. & C.L. 1 (2022)
  • Emily Behzadi Cárdenas, Destruction Of Cultural Heritage as A Violation of Human Rights: Application Of The Alien Tort Statute, 73 Rutgers University Law Review 525 (2021)
  • Emily Behzadi Cárdenas, The Art of Consignment Agreements, 36 Entertainment and Sports Lawyer 3 (August 2020).
  • Emily Behzadi Cárdenas, ‘Spain for the Spaniards’: An Examination of the Plunder & Polemic Restitution of the Salamanca Papers, 11 Geo. Mason Int'l L.J. (2020).
  • Emily Behzadi Cárdenas, Harmonizing the Law to Protect Cultural Diplomacy: the Foreign Cultural Exchange Jurisdictional Immunities Clarification Act, 12 J. Int’l L & Int’l Rel. 9 (2016).
  • Emily Behzadi Cárdenas, Cece v. Holder: A Victory For Young Single Women Targeted For Sex Trafficking in Albania, 27 Geo. Immigr. L.J. 865 (2013).

    Essays, Op-eds, and Other Publications

  • Emily Behzadi Cárdenas, Cultural Heritage & Neutrality in War in Heritage in War and Peace (McGill University Press) (book chapter forthcoming 2023)
  • Emily Behzadi Cárdenas, It’s time for Latinx residents to have a national museum. Here’s why. The San Diego Tribune (Jan 7, 2021)
  • Emily Behzadi Cárdenas, Art Law 201: Painting the Picture of Sales of Art During a Global Pandemic, Entertainment and Sports Lawyer (May 12, 2021)
  • Emily Behzadi Cárdenas and Julie Gold, Remembering the Suffragists and Honoring Their Legacy, Florida Association of Women Lawyers Journal (Spring/Summer 2020).
  • Emily Behzadi Cárdenas, Painting a Picture of Artist O-1 Visas under the Trump Administration, The Briefs (January 2020).
  • Emily Behzadi Cárdenas, Cuban-Americans must effect change for separated immigrant families, Sun Sentinel, September 17, 2018.
  • Emily Behzadi Cárdenas, Help Wanted: Miami’s Alarming Number of Directorship Successions, Center for Art Law, April 2, 2015.