Samantha J. Prince
Assistant Professor of Law and Director of Legal Analysis and WritingSamantha Prince is an assistant professor of law and the director of Legal Analysis & Writing. Her research and scholarship explore outdated laws negatively impacting workers in our evolving world. From the standpoint of the platform economy, workers are not easily classified as either employees or independent contractors. Professor Prince has written on the issues with worker classification, focusing primarily on the platform economy. In addition, our current workforce is more transient than it was when 401(k) plan regulations were originally adopted. Professor Prince is analyzing the current 401(k) plan rules, such as the permissible vesting schedules to show the negative impact on retirement savings during a time when workers are more transient. As part of this research, Professor Prince will address how employee churn, which can be deliberate and part of the business model in some businesses like Amazon, negatively impacts workers, particularly those of color, from the standpoint of their 401(k) retirement savings. Professor Prince founded and moderates Inside Entrepreneurship Law — a blog featuring posts written by students that provide helpful legal information to entrepreneurs and their counsel. Additionally, she implemented mobile student-led entrepreneurial workshops on various topics. In March, 2019, Dickinson Law students and Professor Prince were featured in an article by Llewellyn King of White House Chronicle, “Will Smart Cities Be Haven for New Kind of Lawyer?”. Professor Prince's interests in partnering with entrepreneurs stem from her extensive practice experience. For over 20 years, she partnered with entrepreneurs during their start-up phases and beyond. At Hedger and Hedger, a boutique transactional law firm, she handled business transactions, including tax, contracts (domestic and international), mergers/acquisitions, employee classification issues, and securities offerings (private and public). She also represented a company through its IPO and afterward as the primary drafter of its securities disclosure documents. A significant part of her practice was in employee benefits including retirement plan design and operation. Professor Prince brings her expertise in this area to her scholarship. Select Publications by Professor Prince “Megacompany Employee Churn Meets 401(k) Vesting Schedules: A Sabotage on Workers’ Retirement Wealth,” 41 YALE L. & POL'Y REV. 1 (2022)(lead article). “Employee Turnover & Partial Plan Terminations,” 6 NYU Review of Employee Benefits 1 (2022). “The Shoe Is About to Drop: Understanding the Current Worker Classification Landscape in Preparation for a Changed World,” 52 MEM. L. REV. 101 (2022). “The AB5 Experiment — Should States Adopt California’s Worker Classification Law?,” 11 AM. UNIV. BUS. L. REV. 43 (2022).
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Prince's Publications
“Deducting Dobbs: The Tax Treatment of Abortion-Related Travel Benefits,” Tulane Law Review (forthcoming Fall 2023).
Inside Entrepreneurship Law Blog (Founder and Moderator).
Post-Dobbs Abortion Travel Benefits (FORTHCOMING Spring 2023).
Megacompany Employee Churn Meets 401(k) Vesting Schedules: A Sabotage on Workers’ Retirement Wealth, 41 YALE L. & POL'Y REV. 1 (FORTHCOMING Fall 2022) (lead article).
Employee Turnover & Partial Plan Terminations, New York Univ. Review on Employee Benefits and Executive Compensation (2022).
The Shoe Is About to Drop: Understanding the Current Worker Classification Landscape in Preparation for a Changed World, 52 MEM. L. REV. 101 (2022).
The AB5 Experiment — Should States Adopt California’s Worker Classification Law? 11 AM. UNIV. BUS. L. REV. 43 (2022).
ENTREPRENEURSHIP LAW: OPERATIONAL ISSUES — Open access textbook
ENTREPRENEURSHIP LAW: COMPANY CREATION — Open access textbook
Prince's Presentations and Panels
Abstract accepted for: Post-Dobbs Abortion Travel Benefits, New & Emerging Voices in Workplace Law, AALS 2023 (upcoming Jan. 4, 2023).
Post-Dobbs Abortion Travel Benefits, Colloquium on Scholarship in Employment and Labor Law (COSELL) (October 21, 2022, Online) (Presenter).
Megacompany Employee Churn Meets 401(k) Vesting Schedules: A Sabotage on Workers’ Retirement Wealth, Widener Commonwealth Law School Faculty Development (April 19, 2022, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania) (Presenter).
Megacompany Employee Churn Meets 401(k) Vesting Schedules: A Sabotage on Workers’ Retirement Wealth, 25th Annual Critical Tax Conference (April 1, 2022, Villanova, Pennsylvania) (Presenter).
Clear, Complete, and Concise Writing, Pennsylvania Office of General Counsel’s CLE Writing & Litigation Workshop (March 2022, Online) (Presenter).
Prince's Relevant Activities
Entrepreneurship Faculty Advisor, Penn State Dickinson Law, Law Certificate Faculty and Legal Advisor
Led the inaugural Veteran Entrepreneur Legal Pop-up Clinic held at Dickinson Law in collaboration with Dauphin County Bar Association and the Eastern Pennsylvania Small Business Association district of the U.S. Small Business Administration.
2022 — Grant recipient from Penn State Teaching and Learning with Technology Innovation to create an open-source textbook for the course, Entrepreneurship Law: Operational Issues.
2021 —– Grant recipient from Penn State Teaching and Learning with Technology Innovation to create an open-source textbook for the course, Entrepreneurship Law: Company Creation.
Entrepreneurship Pop-up Clinics/Workshops Faculty Advisor
Small Business Association Boots to Business Program — Carlisle Army Barracks (quarterly since 2019).
Led the inaugural Veteran Entrepreneur Legal Pop-up Clinic held at Dickinson Law in collaboration with Dauphin County Bar Association and the Eastern Pennsylvania Small Business Association district of the U.S. Small Business Administration. 2022 – Grant recipient from Penn State Teaching and Learning with Technology Innovation to create an open-source textbook for the course, Entrepreneurship Law: Operational Issues. 2021 – Grant recipient from Penn State Teaching and Learning with Technology Innovation to create an open-source textbook for the course, Entrepreneurship Law: Company Creation. Entrepreneurship Pop-up Clinics/Workshops Faculty Advisor Small Business Association Boots to Business Program – Carlisle Army Barracks (quarterly since 2019).