This week, we're joined by David Freeman Engstrom and Natalie Knowlton from the Deborah Rhode Center on the Legal Profession at Stanford Law. David, who serves as co-director of the Center and holds the LSVF professorship in law, has devoted his work to access to justice issues in millions of often overlooked cases, such as debt collection, eviction, foreclosure, and child support. Earlier this year, he published Rethinking the Lawyers’ Monopoly, a major contribution to the ongoing debate about the future of legal services and regulation. You may remember Natalie from her appearance on the podcast in 2023. Since then, she stepped into the role of associate director for legal innovation at the Rhode Center, where she focuses on legal technology, court modernization, and regulatory reform. Just this summer, the Center released a groundbreaking report, which she and David co-wrote, called Legal Innovation After Reform: Five Years of Data on Regulatory Change, which analyzes the reforms in Arizona and Utah.

In today's episode, David and Natalie share insights from that report and discuss the broader implications for the legal system. We will also hear from David about his unexpected journey from coaching high school football in the Mississippi Delta to joining the Stanford Law faculty. Additionally, we talk about what today's law students need to understand about how technology is reshaping the practice of law.

Read the full transcript of today's episode here: https://www.seyfarth.com/dir_docs/podcast_transcripts/Pioneers_DavidEngstrom_NatalieKnowlton.pdf