Microsoft Student Fellows (2008-2009)

 RICHARD bIS 

Richard Bis is a second-year law student (J.D.) and a Dean's Scholar at the University of Michigan Law School.  Rick earned his B.S. in mechanical engineering magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Virginia Tech) where he also completed some graduate work in robotics and unmanned systems.  He has worked as a paralegal and summer associate for the Washington, DC patent law firm Sterne, Kessler, Goldstein and Fox, PLLC.  Rick's current research focuses on new business models dealing with patent commoditization.

HONGXIA qUAN

Hongxia Quan is a third-year student (J.D.) and a Clarence Darrow Fellowship recipient at the University of Michigan Law School.  Prior to attending law school, she worked as a software engineer with Microsoft Corporation and Citrix Systems, Inc.  She graduated cum laude in Computer Science from Dartmouth College.

Hongxia is currently working on two research papers on Corporate Taxation.  Her first paper analyzes several abusive transactions that led to the enactment of IRC 355(e), the anti-Morris Trust provision.  It argues that the enactment of IRC 355(e) was unnecessary and that the Commissioner could have used then-existing Sub-Chapter C to tax those transactions.  The second paper asks how the current R&D tax credit, IRC 41, could be improved.  It concludes that IRC 41 should differentiate among industries and that, moreover, the United States should cooperate with other countries in setting the effective tax rate for the R&D tax credit.

Microsoft Student Fellow (2007-2008)

Guy RUB

Guy Rub is a second-year student in the Doctor of the Sciences of Law (S.J.D.) program and a current Grotius Fellow at the University of Michigan Law School. Guy earned his first degree in law (LL.B) magna cum laude from the Tel-Aviv University Law School in Israel, an additional degree in computer science magna cum laude from Tel-Aviv University Faculty of Exact Sciences. Guy also holds a master's degree magna cum laude in Law and Economics from the University of Madrid, where he was an Olga Cegla Fellow and an LL.M. degree from the University of Michigan Law School, where he was an Olin Student Fellow and Grotius Fellow. Guy’s current research focuses on the economic analysis of contract law and intellectual property law, and the ways in which this analysis should influence the regulation of licenses agreements.