in perpetual beta
This is the text of the closing plenary TED style talk I gave at SLA 2014.
So, funny story…once upon a time I almost found myself among the ranks of the unemployed.
I spent last Saturday in East Lansing, Michigan at the ReInvent Law Laboratory 2014 Entrepreneurial Lawyering Workshop. Now, I’m at point in my career and life where I consider sleeping in on a Saturday to be not only a privilege, but almost a sacred right that I only give up grudgingly. So when I say that it was a privilege and pleasure to get up at 6:15 am to spend the day with Michigan State University law students and some legal innovators, it has a significant meaning. (more…)
Wordle of ABA Standards for Program of Legal Education. Don’t worry…. I hate myself for using a Wordle too.
If you’ve paid even the slightest attention to either the implosion of the legal services market or the legal education one, you’ve seen it taken as fact that law schools are not producing “practice ready” graduates. (more…)
I am not an attorney. Well, I am, licensed by the Great State of Ohio and everything, but I haven’t practiced. In that I mean I haven’t opened up a law office. Instead, I’ve clerked for a judge, worked in a public law library and now work for a non-profit. Instead of being “a lawyer”, I’ve spent my career helping the people that have fallen through the cracks of the legal system without crossing the line of giving “legal advice” because of the protectionist rules of the bar. (more…)
As you may know, Gentle Reader, I am an actual, real life Farmer’s Daughter. This fact has molded me in myriad ways and allows me a perspective different than most of my professional peers. For instance, in a recent conversation, I realized the parallels between farming and the current conversations around legal tech. (more…)
I like to think of myself as a fairly mellow chick. I can discuss controversial topics with those whom I disagree violently with in a calm and rational manner. (more…)
After “where’s the coffee?”, the second most common thing heard at Legal, Tech or LegalTech Conferences is “….we would have loved to have a more diverse speaker line-up, but it was impossible to find anyone.” Why is that? Why is it so hard to find women, people of color, or other minority and under-represented populations to present at these events? (more…)