Dana Neacşu

is a pioneering scholar whose work bridges meaning-making theory, generative AI, and legal information science. In her book The Bourgeois Charm of Karl Marx (Brill, 2020), she advances the counterintuitive thesis that authors exert the greatest control over their texts by candidly disclosing both private (education, alienation) and public (ideological) subjectivities—lest readers unconsciously, and ironically, project their own biases into those gaps.

Her forthcoming monograph—Socialism: The 100-Year-Old Misnomer (Brill, 2025), extends her theory of meaning-making through the lens of layered insight and commonsense wisdom. Her chapter “Privacy Reimagined: Generative AI, News Consumption, and the Democratic Demand for Digital Sanctuaries,” in the De Gruyter Handbook of Artificial Intelligence and Journalism (eds. John V. Pavlik & Shravan Regret Iyer), furthers her impact on the ethics and politics of emerging technologies.

Her forthcoming monograph, The Technology of Legitimating the Law: Information Epochs from Memory to Generative (Hein, 2026, with Paul Callister), which rethinks the legitimization of law across epistemic eras alongs with her peer-reviewed articles shape current debates on GenAI’s cognitive and contextual capabilities, neural and generative search, and the evolving techné of law.

As an instructor, she designs and teaches experiential, innovative courses that integrate legal research, writing, and doctrinal law—particularly in the areas of environmental and climate change law—for undergraduates, JD, and LLM students.

As a leader in academic librarianship, Neacșu has built digital repositories from the ground up—reaching half a million downloads in four years—piloted retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) tools in reference services, overseen a combined multimillion-dollar budget, and delivered talks at AALS, AALL, CoLIST, the ABA, and LexisNexis. Across all domains, she fuses theoretical insight with practical strategy to empower scholars, students, and practitioners as they navigate a rapidly transforming knowledge-production landscape.

Published Books

2025 (Editor, Photographer)

2024 (Author, Photographer)

2020 (Romanian translator)

2018 (Co-editor-in-chief)

2024 (Chapter 2 Author)

2024 (Editor, Photographer)

2020 (Author)

2016 (Chapter 9 Author)

2024 (Author, Photographer)

Updated 2023 (Co-author)

2019 (Co-author)

Media

Legal Talk Series

·         In Conversation with Patricia DeMarco (April 23, 2025) https://dsc.duq.edu/law-dcli-speakers/10

·         In Conversation with Marissa Meredith (March 27, 2024), https://dsc.duq.edu/law-dcli-speakers/9/

·         In Conversation with Robert S. Barker (November 4, 2023) https://dsc.duq.edu/law-dcli-speakers/8/

·         In Conversation with Jane Campbell Moriarty (October 25, 2023) https://dsc.duq.edu/law-dcli-speakers/7/

·         In Conversation with Maryann Herman (October 16, 2023) https://dsc.duq.edu/law-dcli-speakers/6/   

·         In  Conversation with Richard L. Heppner, Jr. (April 16, 2023) https://dsc.duq.edu/law-dcli-speakers/5/

·         In Conversation with John Rice (March 6, 2023) https://dsc.duq.edu/law-dcli-speakers/4/

·         In Conversation with Ashley London (February 15, 2023) https://dsc.duq.edu/law-dcli-speakers/3/

·         In Conversation with Bruce Ledewitz (February 1, 2023) https://dsc.duq.edu/law-dcli-speakers/2

·         In Conversation with Wes Oliver (October 19, 2022) https://dsc.duq.edu/law-dcli-speakers/1/

…

Symposia, Podcasts, Media & Webinars

·         “The Future of Law Librarianship in the Age of Generative AI,” Spring 2025 LexisNexis® Faculty Webinar Series (April 9, 2025). Recording: https://shorturl.at/ajmBl

·         DKLL Symposium: “A Celebration of the Publication of Mistick Speaks by Professor Joseph Sabino Mistick” (April 25, 2024). Recording: https://dsc.duq.edu/law-dcli-symposia/4

·         “What Sackett v. EPA Means for Water Rights and Resources,” ABA Section on Real Property, Trust & Estate Law, The Professors’ Corner (April 9, 2024). Recording: https://tinyurl.com/yzmhyd6m

·         A Celebration of the Robert Taylor/Bruce Ledewitz Book Collection (February 13, 2024). Recording: https://dsc.duq.edu/ledewitz-celebration/2.

·         Yale Law Library Symposium: The Legal Treatise: Past, Present, and Future. 4:45 – 6:15 PM. Panel IV: Transition. “The Persistent Treaty” (March 24, 2023). Recording: https://yale.zoom.us/rec/share/XwGxSvagj3pTUG7wBikW6z9H1b55cE_tgqqMiYQEw__Hs6_OhW2TwrmNCCOU2GrQ.uAa3JacEB_Z9prhh

·         Podcast. The Finance Bro. “Episode 18: Understanding Capitalism with Dana Neacsu” (March 5, 2023). Recording: https://shows.acast.com/thefinancebro/episodes/episode-18-understanding-capitalism-with-dana-neacsu

·         DCLI Symposium: “The Lessons of Justinian's Code” (November 3, 2022). Recording: https://dsc.duq.edu/law-dcli-symposia/1

·         A Celebration of the Digitization of the Collected Works of Professor Bruce Ledewitz (December 8, 2023). Recording: https://dsc.duq.edu/ledewitz-celebration/1

·         Building Belonging: Taking Pride in Pittsburgh's Multicultural Heritage Through Art. (June 6, 2023). Recording: https://dsc.duq.edu/law-dcli-symposia/3

·         “Building Belonging Through Radical Empathy: A Conversation with Terri Givens,” Duquesne Law DCLI Webinar (February 23, 2023). Recording: https://dsc.duq.edu/law-dcli-symposia/2

·         Podcast. Theory to No End. “Camelia Răghinaru with Dana Neacsu on Marx, Ideological Irony, and American Jurisprudence” (June 5, 2020). Recording: https://craghi.libsyn.com/dana-neacsu-on-marx-ideological-irony-and-american-jurisprudence

·         2020 Telos-Paul Piccone Institute Conference, After the Welfare State: Reconceiving Mutual Aid, in New York, NY, February 15-16, 2020 "Does Democracy in the Age of Irony and Digital Communities Breed Mutual Aid?" Recording: https://youtu.be/aejm-b2CqlQ?si=pMX448LO_iR8NnRd (41:19)

·        Global Legal Skills Conference XII , “Preparing LLMs in Advance for Academic and Legal Research,” - Monterrey, Mexico, (March 20-21, 2017), Pre-recording: https://youtu.be/wgRpy1NNwlM?si=BZoCo-d1iUE6mNv4

·        “In Conversation with Ann Thornton” (CU Librarian & Vice Provost)
(September 15, 2015). Public interview hosted by Council of Columbia Library and Information Professionals (CCLIPC) Recording:  https://tinyurl.com/bkckkz5

·        9th Columbia University Libraries Symposium: "New Models of Academic Collaboration" (March 16th, 2012) - Session 4 Recording: https://youtu.be/v6v2eTdVijc