UCLA law professor Eugene Volokh has always seemed to operate with an eye toward the future. Graduating with a B.S. in math-computer science at the age of 15, he spent over a decade as a computer programmer before becoming a lawyer.

In 2017, Volokh looked forward again, this time in working with Stanford’s Mark Lemley on a paper that may seem a little far-out. That paper is “Law, Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality,” which was recently picked up by the University of Pennsylvania Law Review. The Recorder had a chance to catch up with Volokh to discuss his paper and its look at how the law might handle problems in both the physical and virtual worlds. Here are highlights from that chat, editted for space and clarity.