Affordable Legal Help: How a Non-Profit Law Firm is Answering the Call (Kamron Graham, Executive Director, The Commons Law Center)
Technically Legal - A Legal Technology and Innovation Podcast
Release Date: 05/09/2024
Revolutionizing Dispute Resolution: AAA's Acquisition of ODR.com; The Future of AI-Powered Arbitration (Best of Replay)
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...
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The Future of Real Estate is Here (and It's on Blockchain) -Daniel Rollingher (GC Fabrica)
Technically 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...
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From Tractors to Timekeeping: Jack Weinberger’s (CEO Ajax) Legal Tech Journey
Technically 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...
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From Athlete to AI: Summize CEO's Legal Tech Entrepreneurial Journey (Tom Dunlop)
Technically 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...
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Connecting Main Street to Wall Street: How Data Driven Financial Regulation and Emerging Tech Like Crypto Can Help Bridge the Gap (Lucas Moskowitz - GC, Robinhood) (Replay)
Technically 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...
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Best of 2024: Can AltFee Kill the Billable Hour and Bring Transparency to Legal Billing? (Scott & Digby Leigh)
Technically 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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Best of 2024: Investing in Legal Tech and the Ingredients of a Successful Start-Up (Zach Posner, The LegalTech Fund)
Technically Legal - A Legal Technology and Innovation Podcast
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...
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Best of 2024: Using Agile Project Management to Streamline Legal Workflows (John Grant, The Agile Attorney)
Technically 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...
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Beyond Billable Hours: Flatiron's Conrad Everhard on a Fixed-Fee and Tech Based Approach to M&A
Technically 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...
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An Inside Look at How Atlassian Uses Its Own Tools to Power Legal Workflows and Encourages Thoughtful Adoption of AI (Stan Shepard, General Counsel)
Technically 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_outlineStudies determined that at least one litigant does not have a lawyer in 75% of civil cases in the United States. The number is even higher when it comes to family law, domestic violence, housing, and small claims matters.
But organizations like Oregon’s Commons Law Center are doing something about it. On this episode, Kamron Graham, the Law Center’s Executive Director, talks about the not for profit law firm’s efforts to provide affordable legal assistance to people that make too much to qualify for legal aid, but don’t make enough to hire a lawyer.
The Commons Law Center helps out people facing evictions, have family law issues or need help with wills and estate planning.
Kamron initially planned to pursue a career in finance but pretty quickly figured out that her empathy and concern for others probably might not jibe with a Wall Street career. After returning to Oregon after college in the Northeast, Kamron started her career working in group homes, homeless shelters and served a stint with the United Way.
These experiences made clear to her that a professional degree might help her have a greater impact on people's lives and give her even more of an opportunity to use her education to help others. So, in her 30s she decided to go to law school.
After law school continued her career helping the underserved, including work for Legal Aid Services of Oregon and work as a public defender.
Eventually she landed at the Commons Law Center, starting as a tenant defense attorney and ascending to the role of executive director.
The business model of the Commons Law Center is not free legal work, but charging a sliding scale fee based on a client's income. Currently 70% of the firm's budget comes from fees. The firm is working to become 100% self-sufficient, but in the meantime to fill the gap, the firm leverages tech to streamline their processes and keep costs down. It also relies on donors, foundations, and grants.
** Thanks to former Technically Legal Guest John Grant for making this episode happen and connecting us to Kamron.