As the deputy editor of IAM, I have created a monthly column to report US patent transactions (paywall). Discovering interesting patent transactions can be difficult because of the volume of patent assignments that parties record with the US Patent and Trademark Office. Working with a data provider, I scour a spreadsheet of the transactions, researching …
Category: Technology
Blockchain neophyte carves out niche in cryptocurrency litigation
By Angela Morris (ABA Journal, February 2019) David Silver learned about cryptocurrency the way a lot of people do—at a dinner party. It was 2014 and there was one person at the dinner table who was heavy into bitcoin mining—the computer-powered competition that creates new bitcoins. It was the first Silver and most of his …
Make room for chatbots at your firm, LawDroid founder says
By Angela Morris (ABA Journal) Chatbots have a place in a law office, says legal chatbot creator Tom Martin, because they can handle busy work that eats up precious time in a lawyer’s day. Martin is the founder of LawDroid, a company that creates legal chatbot apps that mimic human conversations when talking with potential …
With the rise of cryptocurrency, estate lawyers caution that it shouldn’t be treated like any other asset
by Angela Morris (ABA Journal, November 2018) As the cryptocurrency craze spreads, the mainstream public is investing in bitcoin and other digital currencies. With dollar signs in their eyes, they might not think about what happens to their cryptocurrency when they die. Cryptocurrency, such as bitcoin or Ethereum’s ether, could vanish into thin air unless …
Could 80 percent of cases be resolved through online dispute resolution?
Perhaps in five to seven years, as Colin Rule sees it, half of U.S. citizens who file court cases will have access to online dispute resolution software walking them step by step through their matters, resolving up to 80 percent of cases. Rule, a nonlawyer mediator, is vice president for online dispute resolution at Tyler …
Brace Yourselves, PACER-Like Systems Are Coming This Winter
By the end of the year, the Lone Star State will have a PACER-like court records system. The Texas Supreme Court took the next step in expanding re:SearchTX, which grants access to state court records electronically filed anywhere in Texas, so that lawyers can download documents in any case—and so can the general public—at a …
Michele Mirto: Stepping up A2J while cutting cost
As executive director of Step Up to Justice, a Tucson, Arizona-based privately funded legal aid nonprofit, Michele Mirto wields a shoestring budget and just three staff members armed with legal technology. They lead an army of volunteer lawyers in resolving low-income clients’ civil matters—mostly family law but also guardianship, consumer law, bankruptcy, and wills and probate. …
Legal services innovator moves on to app development
It’s too easy for attorneys to be aware that something isn’t perfect in their practices and accept the situation instead of pushing back. So says longtime legal innovator Nicole Bradick. “What it’s all about is identifying something not working as well as it should be and thinking of possible solutions,” says Bradick, who in January …
BigLaw firms are working together to influence how blockchain technology will operate in the future
The cryptocurrency and blockchain technology industry is already crowded with firms eager to nab high-tech startups as clients or help legacy clients navigate a brave new world. But some BigLaw firms have gone further. Over the past 2½ years, several of the largest firms in the world have joined legal working groups aimed at bringing …
This One MtGox Creditor Might Recover $61 Million Dollars – or Some Other Amount of Dollars or Possibly No Dollars
This article first published on Popula.com on July 12, 2018. It is available for reprints. PDF: this-one-mtgox-creditor-might-recover-61-million-dollars “You can open the champagne now.” Joyful celebration lit up online groups for creditors of the bankrupt MtGox exchange on June 22, when a Japanese court decided to move the company into “civil rehabilitation,” a new legal process that …