Ashling Sugarman is a Juris Doctor candidate (’27) at Pepperdine Caruso School of Law, where she serves as Vice President of the International Law Society and Lead Article Editor on the Journal Of Business, Entrepreneurship, And The Law. For the 2026 summer, she is gaining valuable experience as a legal intern at the Federal Communications Commission’s Space Bureau. Ashling is also participating in the Matthew Isakowitz Foundation Programs as a Commercial Space Scholar and obtaining a Space Policy Student Certificate at the Nonproliferation Policy Education Center. These roles follow her spring 2026 legal internship with the U.S. Department of Justice, Civil Division, Aviation, Space, and Admiralty Litigation Section in Washington, D.C.
Ashling joined the Space Court Foundation as a legal intern in May 2025, contributing research and translation to the Foundation’s Big Book of Space Law for China, and contributing to the third volume of the Foundation’s Student Space Law Journal. Additionally, Ashling is a member of the Space Generation Advisory Council, Space Law and Policy Project Group. She holds a B.S. in International Business from Pepperdine University and speaks beginner Mandarin.
Ashling is passionate about developing legal frameworks that promote sustainability and innovation with the responsible growth of the commercial space sector.