The Circuit: California Dreaming

Columnist Monica Bay discusses two upcoming law-related events in the San Francisco Bay Area, which should offer many delicious predictions and prognostications.

The Circuit by Monica Bay - main imageUPDATE:  (4.14.2016) This post was revised after initial publication to call attention to additional FutureLaw presents. 

Want a sneak peek at the future? Well, you can always go to the original, iconic Disneyland in Anaheim. But who would want to be in southern California when you can attend two law-related events in the San Francisco Bay Area—where there will be lots of delicious predictions and prognostications?

Later this month—April 29, to be exact—women lawyers are invited to an “Unconference” in San Francisco, called “Wellness, Wealth and Wisdom: An Unconference for Women Lawyers,” presented by Shape the Law. It starts at 11:30 a.m. at 950 Grant Avenue, 2nd Floor. (Capacity is 80.) The website offers links to details, including the schedule and registration information. Regular tickets are $60 through April 15. Late bird: $75.

The planning committee includes Jeena Cho, a frequent contributor at Above The Law. She is a partner at JC Law Group, a mindfulness coach, and author of The Anxious Lawyer blog. (The same-named book (affiliate link), co-authored with Karen Gifford, will be published June 7th by the American Bar Association’s new Ankerwycke imprint.) The other organizers are Mary Rezic, Vionic Group, in-house counsel; Alexandra Devendra, who left Biglaw to start a legal design consulting service and is also a freelance attorney; and Laura Maechtlen, partner (labor and employment) at Seyfarth Shaw.

So what’s an “unconference”? The organizers describe it as “a participant-driven meeting that emphasizes the informal exchange of information and ideas, rather than following a conventionally structured program of events.” Instead of predetermined speakers or session topics, participants shape the agenda at the beginning of the unconference and share information and ideas in a more decentralized fashion, they explain.

After opening remarks and short introductions to “mindful lawyering” and “legal design,” there is a one-hour session; then the same structure is used for for the topics of “diversity in the legal industry” and “legal technology.” At 5 p.m., a happy hour concludes the event.

“Participants are invited to bring their questions, wisdom, enthusiasm and knowledge,” said Cho. Future events will be open to both women and men, she said.

Sponsored

CODEX FUTURELAW CONFERENCE 2016

Full disclosure: I’m a fellow at CodeX: The Stanford Center for Legal Informatics, so it’s not surprising that I am excited about our fourth annual CodeX FutureLaw conference. It’s a great way to learn about technology advances that are dramatically (and sometimes quietly) changing legal services. And it’s an opportunity to meet people committed to improving our profession so that we can offer better, faster, cheaper, transparent and accessible services to everyone, worldwide.

The day-long conference will be held at the Stanford Law School on May 20th, from 8 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., followed with a reception.

As always, the 2016 FutureLaw agenda is eclectic, ranging from artificial intelligence to computational law; new legal tech communities; the role of academia; e-government; and criminal justice. The CodeX FutureLaw organizing committee includes executive director Dr. Roland Vogl, Stanford Law School; research director Michael Genesereth, professor, Stanford Computer Science Department; and CodeX fellow Nicole Shanahan, founder and CEO of ClearAccessIP. Thomson Reuters is the conference partner.

The agenda (which is still in progress):

Sponsored

James Sandman, president of the Legal Services Corp., will present the morning keynote, after welcome remarks from SLS dean Elizabeth Magill and Vogl. Don’t be late: Sandman is a terrific speaker, and his messages about the role of technology in improving access to justice for the underserved are compelling and inspiring. (Check out: Q&A with Sandman and Legal Talk Network podcast.)

• “Hot or Not—Watson and Beyond” will address data analystics; what’s real and what’s marketing buzz; limitations; and implications for providers and consumers of legal services (and more). Moderator: Daniel Martin Katz, associate professor of law at ITT-Chicago-Kent College of Law and director of The Law Lab @ Illinois Tech (launching this year). Speakers: Kira System CIO Noah Waisberg; Khalid Al-Kofari, vice president, R&D, at Thomson Reuters); Himabindu Lakkaraju, (PhD student in Computer Science at Stanford University will be on the Watson panel; Charles Horowitz, chief technologist, Center for Judicial Informatics, Science and Technology, The Mitre Corp.; and Andrew Arruda, CEO and co-founder of ROSS Intelligence).

• “Computational Law Update” addresses how computers are used to analyze the law and automate legal processes, such as contracts and office automation. Moderator: Professor Harry Surden, University of Colorado and a Stanford Law School fellow. Speakers: Professor Bart Verheij, University of Groningen, CodeX; CodeX Fellow Nicole Shanahan, CEO and founder of ClearAccessIP; Ronald Staudt, professor of law and director of the Center for Access to Justice & Technology at IIT- Chicago-Kent College of Law and Guido Governatori, senior principal research at NICTA.

• “Moot Court 2020: Legal Tech on Trial” is likely to get a bit rowdy—it’s a simulated suit against the entire legal industry, providing a novel way to predict whether the promises made in 2016 will succeed or fail. Participants will include CodeX fellows Jake Heller (CEO, Casetext) and Pablo Arredondo (vice president, legal research, Casetext); Alma Asay, founder and CEO of Allegory; Sam Glover (editor-in-chief, Lawyerist.com) and Keith Lee (Hamer Law Group; columnist at Above The Law).

• At 2 p.m., there will be three simultaneous sessions: “The New Legal Tech Communities,” with Jules Miller (EvolveLaw), Dan Linna (Michigan State), Rebecca Williams (D.C. Hackers), Micha-Manuel Bues (Bucerius Law School), and Tanina Rostain (Georgetown Law School).

The other 2 p.m. tracks are “Legal Technology in the Academy,” and “Barriers to Legal Tech Adoption and Possible Solutions.” The final afternoon panels are “Technology Opening the Blackbox of the Criminal Justice System,” and “E-Government,” followed by the reception for all attendees.

See the registration link for prices and discounts, which range from $65 (students) to $350 (general). MCLE credit will be available.

More information: Agenda, Speakers.

UPDATE (4/14/2016, 1:35 p.m.): This post was revised after initial publication to call attention to additional FutureLaw presenters.


Monica BayMonica Bay is a Fellow at CodeX: The Stanford Center for Legal Informatics and a columnist for Above The Law. She also writes for Bloomberg BNA’s Big Law Business and is an analyst and consultant. A member of the California Bar, she frequently can be found at Yankee Stadium. Email: monicabay1@gmail.com. Twitter: @MonicaBay.

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