Professor Tonya Evans (Penn State Dickinson Law) Demystifies Crypto and Debunks Blockchain Myths
Technically Legal - A Legal Technology and Innovation Podcast
Release Date: 03/14/2024
Technically Legal - A Legal Technology and Innovation Podcast
This episode involves two people with very distinguished careers. who now heads the and , the founder of just acquired by The AAA. Bridget has served in just about every role you can in the legal industry. She started her legal career in legal aid and as a public defender handling trials and appeals. She then moved to teaching law school, first at Yale and then Michigan. After her stint as an educator, she decided she wanted to help foster even more change and won a seat on the Michigan Supreme Court where she ultimately ascended to the position of Chief...
info_outlineTechnically Legal - A Legal Technology and Innovation Podcast
This episode features Daniel Rollingher, co-founder of Fabrica, a company leveraging blockchain technology to revolutionize real estate ownership. Rollingher discusses Fabrica's innovative approach to putting real estate titles on chain, creating a more transparent and efficient system for property transactions. He explains how Fabrica's platform uses NFTs to represent property ownership, simplifying the process of buying, selling, and managing real estate assets. The conversation also explores the legal framework behind Fabrica's blockchain real estate platform, including the use of trusts...
info_outlineTechnically Legal - A Legal Technology and Innovation Podcast
Jack Weinberger, co-founder of Ajax, a legal tech app that handles timekeeping for lawyers, shares his unconventional journey from finance to legal tech. Jack discusses his experiences in investment banking and private equity, and how those roles, while not directly related to law, sparked his interest in entrepreneurship and ultimately led him to the world of legal tech. He details the challenges of building a legal tech company, emphasizing the importance of understanding the specific needs of lawyers and addressing the critical concerns of data security. Jack also provides insight into...
info_outlineTechnically Legal - A Legal Technology and Innovation Podcast
This episode features Tom Dunlop, founder of Summize, a contract lifecycle management (CLM) platform. Tom discusses his unique path to founding Summize, from his background as a professional athlete and lawyer to his passion for solving real-world problems with technology. Key takeaways: The genesis of Summize: Tom explains how his experience reviewing hundreds of contracts manually led to the idea for Summize. Early challenges and the evolution of AI: Tom describes the initial challenges of summarizing contracts using AI in 2018 and how the advent of generative AI has revolutionized...
info_outlineTechnically Legal - A Legal Technology and Innovation Podcast
A conversation with , General Counsel for financial services company . Launched in 2013, Robinhood’s stated mission is to "democratize finance for all" by making it easy for investors to start investing with a few bucks rather than having to be a high roller. Key to this effort is the fact that Robinhood offers commission-free trading and also provides access to cryptocurrencies. The discussion covers various topics, including: Robinhood’s Mission: Lucas explains Robinhood's mission to democratize finance by breaking down barriers to investing and making it accessible to...
info_outlineTechnically Legal - A Legal Technology and Innovation Podcast
In this Best of 2024 episode, we revisit our conversation with Scott and Digby Leigh, founders of AltFee—a legal tech startup tackling one of the industry’s biggest challenges: the billable hour. Despite decades of debate, the billable hour still dominates legal billing. Enter AltFee. The app helps legal professionals scope, price, and manage projects using alternative fee arrangements (AFAs), offering clients more transparency and value. Scott and Digby highlight why AFAs matter now more than ever: as AI reduces time spent on tasks, value-based pricing will become essential. AltFee...
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What does it take to build a successful legal tech startup? In this Best of 2024 episode, we revisit our conversation with Zach Posner, co-founder of the LegalTech Fund, an investment fund focused on supporting innovative legal technology companies. Zach’s unique perspective on legal tech investing is rooted in his broad experience, including building an education tech company acquired by McGraw Hill. During our conversation, he shares valuable insights into what makes startups thrive. From the importance of transparent investor updates to fostering frequent, meaningful customer...
info_outlineTechnically Legal - A Legal Technology and Innovation Podcast
In one of the most popular episodes of 2024, John Grant talks about how legal teams can adopt Agile and Kanban project management methodologies to optimize workflows, correct bottlenecks and increase client satisfaction. John is a lawyer and the founder of The Agile Attorney consultancy. As John explains, the traditional project management method is waterfall. A technique often used by technology companies, involving a sequential approach where each stage is dependent on the completion of the previous one. But John is a proponent of the newer, Agile methodology, which emerged from the software...
info_outlineTechnically Legal - A Legal Technology and Innovation Podcast
Conrad Everhard, founder of Flatiron Law Group discusses his career trajectory from Georgetown University to becoming a partner at Big Law firms Jones Day and Brian Cave. He explains why he left BigLaw to found Flatiron Law Group, to provide a more cost effective and efficient way to offer legal services to clients involved in mergers and acquisitions. To do so, the firm leverages a multi-pronged model: flat fees, low overhead, general contract labor to assist with the more labor intensive parts of an M&A deal, and advanced technology, including the firm's own custom build Deal Driver...
info_outlineTechnically Legal - A Legal Technology and Innovation Podcast
This episode features Stan Shepard, General Counsel of Atlassian, a leading provider of team productivity and collaboration software. Stan discusses his unique career journey from a finance journalist to the current GC of Atlassian. He shares valuable insights into how Atlassian's legal department leverages the company's productivity software products and AI for maximum efficiency. Episode Highlights: [00:00:09]: Introduction and Stan's background - Learn about Stan's journey from finance journalist to lawyer at Charles Schwab, and eventually to his current role at Atlassian. [00:04:00]: Why...
info_outlineProfessor Tonya Evans of Penn State Dickinson Law School visits Technically Legal to talk about her book Digital Money Demystified.
Professor Evans has pretty much held every job in legal from judicial clerk, to Big Law lawyer and now legal educator. She is also the host of the Tech Intersect Podcast which focuses on Web3 and how it will impact the future of work, wealth and creativity.
In this episode, Professor Evans talks about her journey from risk averse crypto doubter to blockchain believer. She emphasizes the importance of lawyers staying ahead of the curve in the rapidly evolving world of technology and the need for more education and awareness around crypto and blockchain, not only in law schools but also in other professional fields.To those ends, she founded Advantage Evans Academy, a platform designed for non-technologists to understand the new digital economy.
Professor Evans’ book, Digital Money Demystified, is an excellent starting point for anyone wanting to learn more about cryptocurrencies. The book explains blockchain concepts in plain language and debunks many myths about crypto.
Such as:
Myth: Crypto is Mainly for Criminals. Fact: Blockchain data analysis firm Chainanalysis estimates that only .24 of all crypto transactions in 2022 were for illicit purposes.
Myth: Crypto is untraceable. Fact: Blockchain transactions are pseudonymous, but, if recorded on an open blockchain, such as bitcoin, they are transparent and available to anyone to view..
Myth: Crypto is terrible for the environment. Fact: Not all blockchains are energy guzzlers, especially those based on proof of stake validation and it should not be overlooked that the energy consumed by traditional financial markets is much greater.
Professor Evans also explains the need for clear crypto regulation and the risk of the United States falling behind if the regulatory environment is not clarified.
Learn more about Professor Evans