Amy Cyphert

Education

• J.D., Harvard Law School, 2005
• B.A., Carnegie Mellon University, 2001

Biography

Amy Beth Cyphert is a Lecturer in Law at the West Virginia University College of Law and also the Director of the ASPIRE Office, which assists students who are applying for nationally competitive scholarships and fellowships. Cyphert is a Morgantown native and a 2001 graduate of Carnegie Mellon University, where she was awarded a Truman Scholarship. Cyphert graduated cum laude from Harvard Law School in 2005, and went on to clerk for the Honorable Laura Taylor Swain in the Southern District of New York. Prior to joining WVU, Cyphert was a senior litigation associate with WilmerHale in New York City, where she focused on complex commercial litigation as well as first amendment pro bono matters.

Cyphert developed and teaches a course on Artificial Intelligence and the Law. Her recent research has focused on algorithmic decision making in schools and the criminal justice system, as well as the impact of artificial intelligence on the practice of law. In 2021, Cyphert received the Privacy Papers for Policymakers Award from the Future of Privacy Forum for her article on machine-learning algorithms and online surveillance.

Publications

• "A Change is Gonna Come:" Developing a Liability Framework for Social Media Algorithmic Amplification (with Jena Martin), forthcoming, UC Irvine Law Review.
• Limits of Using Artificial Intelligence and GPT-3 in Patent Prosecution (with Sean Tu and Sam Perl), 54 Texas Tech L. Rev. 255 (2022).
• A Human Being Wrote This Law Review Article: GPT-3 and the Practice of Law, 55 U.C. Davis Law Review 401 (2021).
• Reprogramming Recidivism: The First Step Act and Algorithmic Prediction of Risk , 51 Seton Hall L. Rev. 331 (2020) 
• Tinkering with Machine Learning: The Legality and Consequences of Online Surveillance of Students, 20 Nev. L.J. 457 (2020) 
  
• The Devil is in the Details: Exploring Restorative Justice as an Option for Campus Sexual Assault Responses Under Title IX, 96 Denver L. Rev. 51 (2019)
  
• Objectively Offensive: The Problem of Applying Title IX to Very Young Students, 51 Fam. L. Q. 325 (2018)
  
• Prisoners of Fate: The Challenges of Creating Change for Children of Incarcerated Parents , 77 Md. L. Rev. 385 (2018).
• Addressing Racial Disparities in Preschool Suspension and Expulsion Rates,  82 Tenn. L. Rev. 893 (2015).

Cyphert teaches Appellate Advocacy and Professional Responsibility at the College of Law, and has also taught many courses to undergraduates at WVU, including Philosophy of Law, Law and Leadership, History of the Warren Court, and The Supreme Court Today.

Professional Experience

• Director, ASPIRE, WVU, 2010-present
• Senior Litigation Associate, WilmerHale, 2007-2010
• Law Clerk, Hon. Laura Taylor Swain, SDNY, 2005-2007