On Saturday, Michael Dodge will become the world's first accredited space lawyer when he graduates from the University of Mississippi with a law degree and a special certificate in space law. After coming to law school, Dodge told Space.com, he "became curious as to why space needed regulation, and how legal regimes could be constructed to govern such an expanse." Dodge studied under Joanne Gabrynowicz, director of Ole Miss's National Center for Remote Sensing, Air and Space Law.

Although space is still an underdeveloped area of law, Dodge and Gabrynowicz predict that it's a growth area, with private space companies like Virgin Galactic starting up, the militarization of space looking increasingly likely, and even, the article says, the possibility of needing to solve legal disputes between astronauts on the International Space Station (above). Being a space lawyer would be cool, we guess, but it sounds like the commute would be hell.

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