Investors live on making a lot of tough calls. Investing is a risk-reward game that can be frightening at times as it doesn’t always pay off and there are often little margins for error when it comes down to predictions. A seasoned value investor like Will Gilmore will seek out and invest in companies running a solid business and are likely to recover even when getting crushed by the market. Host Jack Russo and investment advisor Will Gilmore discuss how investors and investment advisors look at the market when there is a lot of distrust complicating the unknown.

Silicon Valley Bank has long been known as a VC based firm loved by VCs as they can get lines of credit there. Value investors, however, have had their concerns since SVB is concentrated to startup companies with some geographic diversity. What most people don’t realize is that a banks reputation makes up a huge part of the decision of whether people will do business with them; and SVB’s two greatest assets was always their understanding of the business and ability to form strong relationships. Jack Russo asks investment advisor Will Gilmore if the VCs could have banded together to save Silicon Valley Bank.

Causation and liability can play an inexact role when a crime occurs, and that gray area only gets grayer when a crime starts online. Law students will recognize the but-for test plays a large part of criminal law where they will argue if a crime would not have occurred but for the existence of a specific cause. The Communications Decency Act of 1996 was an early attempt to regulate indecent material on the internet and was later amended to add section 230(c)(1) – a clause to protect online service providers and users from actions being taken against them from a third party. Currently SCOTUS is re-examining section 230 in Gonzales v. Google where Google’s AI forwarded enough hate speech to ultimately result in the death of a family member. Today Jack Russo asks the CLG Educational Team what role humility plays when the Supreme Court makes a decision.

Gonzales v Google's oral argument audio

Gonzales v Google's oral argument transcript

SCOTUS's Blog Post on Section 230

This year has been a bad year for technology and research companies which have been slapped with a double whammy. Not only has Congress made R&D credits harder to obtain, VCs have turned against Silicon Valley Bank by telling the CEOs in their portfolio companies to move money out. Clearly there was enough distrust between the bank and the VC’s which prompted the unsustainable run on SVB, but could this all have been prevented with a little more transparency? Jack Russo asks CPA Steve Rabin if banks disclose enough quality information in their accounting reports to foster confidence in their consumer-lender relationship.

The Fair Value Compromise – A Proposed Solution

Silicon Valley Bank may have blown up today, but it’s not just the bank that has Jack Russo and Joe Cucchiara concerned. The global economy could take a major hit since Silicon Valley Bank has extended lines of credit to scores of East Coast and Chinese startups over the years. As founders and venture capitalists rush to withdraw capital from Silicon Valley Bank, you have to wonder, you have to wonder how badly SVB shot themselves in the foot by not getting a formal guarantee from VCs to make good on their loans.  Jack Russo and Joe Cucchiara discuss the bigger picture to be painted in Silicon Valley Bank’s implosion.

Will mediations and arbitrations ever go back to normal? It’s a question that’s been asked frequently over the last three years and the answer appears to be pretty evident – or is it? Though in-person meetings are still available to many litigants upon request, digital meetings have quickly become the go-to for judges, lawyers, mediators, and arbitrators. After all, digital is faster and easier and exactly the same as if you attended the meeting in person, right? Host Jack Russo asks Judge Ken Fields if face to face arbitration and mediation will officially become a thing of the past or if in-person meetings still have their place in litigation.

Jack Russo**

Managing Partner

Computerlaw Group LLP

[email protected]

www.computerlaw.com

https://www.linkedin.com/in/jackrusso

"Every Entrepreneur Imagines a Better World!”® 

When the pandemic hit, the entire judicial system was all a jumble as the courts scrambled to move their cases to the web so they could be handled digitally. But when Ken Fields retired from being a judge 16 years ago, he was no stranger to the idea of e-filings as he was one of three judges to go completely paperless starting in the early 2000s. Judge Fields was only one year into retirement when he started getting calls to do pro bono mediations and settlement conferences and by 2020 the calls only increased with judges and lawyers requesting training. Host Jack Russo asks Judge Ken Fields how he became an expert mediator with a little help from technology.

Jack Russo**

Managing Partner

Computerlaw Group LLP

[email protected]

www.computerlaw.com

https://www.linkedin.com/in/jackrusso

"Every Entrepreneur Imagines a Better World!”® 

If you spend an hour scrolling through YouTube or TikTok, you’ll probably view no fewer than a dozen life hacks promising to revolutionize your cooking and dieting habits. Now search the app store on your phone and compare the thousands of fitness apps available to consumers. Each one will sell you wildly different diet and exercise routines to get you in beach bod form before summer hits. With most American’s busy with the daily races, it’s virtually impossible for anyone to figure out which routine is best for them. Host Jack Russo and Personal Coach, Eamon Barkhordarian, discuss if ChatGPT can automate the specific information needed to help them achieve their fitness goals.

Jack Russo**

Managing Partner

Computerlaw Group LLP

[email protected]

www.computerlaw.com

https://www.linkedin.com/in/jackrusso

"Every Entrepreneur Imagines a Better World!”® 

The world is aging and the number of elderly individuals living with some form of dementia is rising alongside it. As you age, your memory and reaction abilities generally begin to retard due to the breakdown of cellular material in all things living and not-living. We know that exercising your brain can strengthen your mind which slows the progression of memory loss. Jack Russo asks Dr. Leonard Hayflick if the chatbots like ChatGPT are likely to keep people curious and learning later in life or if they will enable enough laziness in people who will no longer need to think up their own words.

The future of Artificial Intelligence boils down to two possibilities: it’s either your average search engine that’s been overblown or it’s an amazing experiment already being leveraged at its infancy. More than likely the future will be fueled by augmented intelligence – meaning it needs human involvement supported by AI. Increased levels of intelligent automation will result in big shakeups for knowledge workers as new features roll out that will boost productivity and remove factors such as human error, biases, and emotional reactions. Today Jack Russo heads over to Latte With a Lawyer to discuss how AI will be applied to things like jury selection and more.