Technically Legal - A Legal Technology and Innovation Podcast

Amanda Tuminelli, Chief Legal Officer for the DeFI Education Fund, visits the podcast to discuss her role with the organization and its objectives. (What is DeFi? It is shorthand for Decentralized Finance and the backbone of DeFi is blockchain technology and smart contracts.)

The DeFi Education Fund is a nonpartisan research and advocacy group working to explain the benefits of DeFi, achieve regulatory clarity for the future of the global digital economy, and help realize the transformative potential of DeFi for everyone.

Amanda goes in depth into the DEF’s areas of focus:

• Research and Advocacy

• Policymaker Education

• Messaging for Crypto Companies

• Research about Blockchain Issues and Regulations

• Providing “Legal Firepower” to Crypto Causes; and

• DeFi Project Best Practices

Amanda also discusses how lawyers can pursue a career in crypto and why that wasn’t the case a few years ago. It’s not only an option now because the industry is more mature, but also because of the openness of those in the crypto world and their desire for passionate individuals to join them. To get a job in crypto law, Amanda emphasizes the importance of understanding the technology and finding projects of interest. 

So how did Amanda get to the DEF? She started out as a securities and white collar crime lawyer, but a case came along that would change her career trajectory. She was working for Kobre and Kim, a law firm focused on disputes and investigations, when the firm was hired by a client accused of running an illegal crypto mining scheme. To get up to speed on the case and get her client out of jail, she had to dive deep into learning about blockchain technology and that is when she caught the bug. A few years later, a friend and former college friend contacted her about joining the legal team at the DeFI Education Fund and she took them up on it.

Editing and Production: Grant Blackstock

Theme Music: Home Base (Instrumental Version) by TA2MI

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AffiniPay is historically a fintech company with a big presence in legal. Their flagship product is LawPay used by law firms to bill clients and accept payments. Dru joined the company in 2021 and right around that time, the company ventured beyond the world of payment software and acquired MyCase, which is law practice management software used by law firms to keep all case details and documents in a single location, keep track of tasks and streamline client communications.

Growing up, Dru wanted to be a lawyer because she comes from family of lawyers, including her father. She studied law at the University of Chicago, but after a couple of gigs with law firms, she figured out that maybe the law wasn’t for her.

So, she finished her MBA and went to work for Boston Consulting. After a few years as a consultant, she needed a break, and, being somewhat of a foodie, she went to work in the kitchens of some of New York's finest dining establishments.

She took lessons learned from the kitchen into her later work as a co-founder of a baby monitor start-up and ultimately roles as CEO of the property management company Grace Hill and now AffiniPay.

In this episode, Dru talks about:

• Joining AffiniPay and its mission

• The company’s acquisition of MyCase and expansion into practice management software

• Affirm, AffiniPay’s Buy now, pay later product and its impact

• The company’s AI plans and integration within the platform

• Core responsibilities of a CEO and what has surprised her in her role as a CEO

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Editing and Production: Grant Blackstock

Theme Music: Home Base (Instrumental Version) by TA2MI

A conversation with Lucas Moskowitz, General Counsel for financial services company Robinhood. 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 everyone, regardless of their financial background.

• Lucas’s Career Path: Lucas shares his unique career journey, transitioning from big law to the SEC, Capitol Hill, and eventually Robinhood. He emphasizes the importance of diverse experiences in shaping his perspective.

• Regulation in the Financial Industry: Lucas advocates for a data-driven approach to regulation, striking a balance between investor protection and fostering innovation and access.

• Crypto & Blockchain: The potential of crypto and blockchain technology is explored, with Lucas highlighting their role in making financial markets more efficient.

• Education: The importance of educating investors about making sound investment decisions and also educating legal professionals about emerging technologies like blockchain and tokenization of assets.

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A conversation with Matthew Veale, a European Patent Attorney and UPC Representative at PatSnap, an app that provides users with a comprehensive and user-friendly platform to conduct patent searches. Matthew discusses his experiences from work as an attorney in private practice and a stint at the UK Patent Office before joining PatSnap.

Matthew will discuss:

• The future of AI in patent searches: How PatSnap's new AI component is transforming years of knowledge into a 10-second search.

• AI's capabilities in analyzing and classifying images: Why AI can outperform humans in these tasks.

• The impact of AI on legal practice: Assisting attorneys in understanding patent data and improving client communication.

• The role of AI in due diligence: Enhancing efficiency without replacing human expertise.

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This episode involves two people with very distinguished careers. Bridget M. McCormack who now heads the American Arbitration Association (AAA) and Colin Rule, the founder of ODR.com 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 Justice. Fast forward to 2023 and she took the helm of the AAA.

One of Bridget’s biggest initiatives at AAA is bringing tech into the arbitration process and that is where Colin Rule comes in. He founded an online dispute resolution (ODR) company, about 15 years ago that ultimately became ODR.com which the AAA just announced it was acquiring.

To say that Colin is an ODR OG is an understatement. He literally wrote the book on ODR way back in the early days of the internet. Ebay brought him on board in the early 2000s where he headed up the company’s ODR function.

In this episode Bridget and Colin discuss: 

• AAA's acquisition of odr.com: The strategic partnership between AAA and ODR.com to revolutionize dispute resolution.

• AI's transformative role in dispute resolution: How AAA is using AI internally and through external tools to improve efficiency and accessibility.

• The future of dispute resolution: A vision for a more accessible, efficient, and user-friendly system that leverages technology and data.

Editing and Production: Grant Blackstock

Theme Music: Home Base (Instrumental Version) by TA2MI

Dr. Heidi Gardner of the Harvard Business and Law Schools joins the podcast to talk about about latest book Smarter Collaboration and the importance of collaboration in legal teams and in all organizations generally.

Smarter Collaboration is Dr. Gardner’s second book and a follow up to Smart Collaboration: How Professionals and Their Firms Succeed by Breaking Down Silos. Both books are helpful to those in law because much of Dr. Gardner’s research is based on the many years she studied collaboration in professional service firms, including many law firms.

Why is collaboration across different disciplines and business units important? As Dr. Gardner explains, most importantly, it creates better client outcomes which improve revenues and profits. But collaboration doesn’t just help make clients happy and improve the bottom line, it also fosters diversity and reduces enterprise risk.

Dr. Gardner has cold hard data that supports her conclusions: Back in the 1970s, 60% of US patents were awarded to individual inventors. Nowadays, that numbers has reversed. The vast majority of patents are issued to teams and the more diverse the backgrounds of those teams, the more successful their innovation.

Editing and Production: Grant Blackstock

Theme Music: Home Base (Instrumental Version) by TA2MI

Medex Chief Forensic Officer Brandon Epstein joins the Technically Legal Podcast to discuss the purpose built forensic tool for use in legal proceedings. The company counts legal professionals, law enforcement and journalists as its customers.

Medex is used to examine digital video files to establish provenance, detect tampering and identify modifications. Users may also use Medex to identify the device type that created the video.

As Brandon explains, the type of hardware used to create a digital video file leaves its own fingerprint. By examining the bits and bytes of a video file, Medex can discern whether a video file was created by, say, an iPhone, an Android based device, or even whether it was altered by posting on social media.

Brandon got his start in law enforcement as a patrol officer and through that work, he became acutely aware of the importance of video evidence in helping to solve crimes. Fast forward a few years later and he met Medex’s CEO at a conference they hit it off and Brandon was asked to join Medex.

Learn more about Brandon.

Litera’s Haley Altman visits the Technically Legal Podcast to discuss the company’s new software offering: Foundation Dragon–an app powered by artificial intelligence that helps legal professionals advise clients based on market insights drawn from their law firm’s existing data and prior deal points.

This is a repeat appearance for Haley. She was first on the podcast in 2018 to discuss the company she had recently launched called Doxly. Founded in 2016, Doxly is a cloud based app that helps automate processes involved in closing M&A deals. In 2019, Haley sold Doxly to Litera and she too joined Litera and currently serves as a strategic advisor to the company.

One of the initiatives in which Haley is heavily involved is the company's recent launch of an AI product called Foundation Dragon.

Foundation Dragon is an app that connects to a law firm’s document management systems and experience software and once connected, using GenAI, it compiles information from the software and enables lawyers to enter into contract negotiations from a position of strength.

For instance, using Foundation Dragon users can:

• Learn what contractual positions opposing counsel starts with or has agreed to in the past

• Provide industry standards for individual contract clauses; and

• Enable users to find precedents across a law firm to figure out what terms colleagues are using

In addition to Foundation Dragon, Haley also shares insights for startups. Including the importance of understanding the implications of capital raises and the potential impact on future exits. 

Learn more about Haley and if you're interested in learning more about Foundation Dragon go here.

Attorney Chris Edgar talks about founding Filmtracts- a DIY platform indie film makers can use to create entertainment based contracts for their projects.

Chris’ career path started with a clerkship for a future U.S. Supreme Court justice and then long hours as a Big Law litigator. After a few years of legal battles in and out of the courtroom, he realized that maybe his current career path wasn’t for him.

That’s because the world of entertainment law and independent film production was calling him. In 2010, Chris threw out his own shingle and founded an entertainment law practice. A few years later he and a partner launched their own indie film production company.

When other indie filmmakers figured out he was an attorney, he was often peppered with legal questions, but most of the time, those asking could not afford his services as an attorney. That’s when he decided to launch Filmtracts. A self serve repository of film related contracts that users can tailor to fit the needs of their project–and depending on the subscription they buy, they can also get a few hours of legal consultation from Chris.

Studies 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.

Learn more about Kamron.