seattle legal tech startup weekend - press release - oct 3 2014
TRANSCRIPT
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8/11/2019 Seattle Legal Tech Startup Weekend - Press Release - Oct 3 2014
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Dan Lear FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Tel. (206) 972-0652
Email: [email protected]
SEATTLE TO HOST UNIQUE LEGAL INNOVATION AND ACCESS TO LEGAL SERVICES EVENT IN SOUTH
LAKE UNION OCTOBER 10-12, 2014
Group of Seattle Innovators to Bring Technology and Change to Law Through Legal-Tech Startup
Weekend
Seattle Legal Tech Startup Weekend will bring together legal professionals, policy geeks, programmers,
designers and entrepreneurs from all disciplines to innovate the legal services market on October
10-12, 2014, at the co-working space WeWork in South Lake Union in Seattle. For many, the terms law,
legal or lawyer and innovation do not go together. However, the organizing team for this event hopes
to change that perception. Partnering with the homegrown entrepreneurship non-profit, Startup
Weekend, the organizers have orchestrated the first-for-Seattle and second-ever LegalTechnology-focused Startup Weekend. During the weekend, participants will share and pitch ideas with
and to each other, form teams to develop business plans and prototypes around those ideas, and finally
present those ideas to a panel of judges hailing from the venture capital, legal technology and academic
communities.
A group of community leaders, each with a strong background in legal technology and innovation, are
spearheading the event. The organizers include: Adam Phillip of Aeon Law Group, Kevin Fichter at the
Law Office of Kevin Fichter, Forrest Carlson at the Law Office of Forrest Carlson, Greg McLawsen from
Puget Sound Legal, Aaron Smith from the Law Office of Aaron M. Smith, Dan Lear, Director of Industry
Relations at Avvo, Inc. and Bernadette Bulacan Starin, Director of Market Development at ThomsonReuters.
The event is not limited to lawyers or legal professionals. Said organizer (and legal industry
thought-leader) Dan Lear:
We dont want a group of one hundred lawyers. As much as we love lawyers were all lawyers
ourselves we are going to great lengths to recruit those who are outside of the legal
profession. We want, no, we needdevelopers, designers, business folks, entrepreneurs and
others to bring much needed fresh thinking, ideas, and perspectives to our profession. For
example, we included project areas such as open-source the law and access to justice in order
to appeal to civic hackers and social justice advocates who might not always look to lawyers for
assistance in their particular endeavors.
In addition to the organizers and participants who sign up, a dynamic group of sponsors interested in
legal innovation have thrown their financial support and resources behind the Seattle Legal Tech Startup
Weekend, including Avvo, Thomson Reuters, Logikcull eDiscovery, WeWork, Name.com, Graham & Dunn
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8/11/2019 Seattle Legal Tech Startup Weekend - Press Release - Oct 3 2014
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PLLC, and Christensen OConnor Johnson Kindness. Coaches and mentors volunteering time include Tim
Ahlers from Avvo and Joe Wallin from Davis Wright Tremaine, among others.
As to the why of the weekend, the organizers point to some significant problems in access to legal
services: a recent study by the Washington State Bar Association indicated that more than 70% of
Washington residents do not receive the legal services that they want or need, with the biggest reasonfor lack of access being cost. Further, most of those who can, or have needed to, hire a lawyer or
interact with the court or justice system in some way find the experience antiquated, inefficient,
dissatisfying, and sometimes unfair.
The organizers hope that the engaging, action-focused Startup Weekend model will not only result in
event participants developing business plans, conducting market research, and building prototypes
aimed at disrupting an entrenched and rigid system, but also that the weekend will spur a broader
discussion about the need to rethink the legal system and access to legal services more broadly.
The weekend culminates on Sunday evening when teams present their innovative ideas to a dynamicpanel of judges: Greg Gottesman, Managing Director at Madrona Venture Group; Margaret Chon,
Donald & Lynda Horowitz Professor for the Pursuit of Justice at Seattle University School of Law; and Rob
Thomas, Vice President, Market Development Group at Thomson Reuters and co-founder of Serengeti
Law (acquired by Thomson Reuters).
The event starts at 6:00 PM on Friday and concludes Sunday afternoon.
More information is available at the event website:
http://www.up.co/communities/usa/seattle/startup-weekend/4218
Registration is available here:
http://www.eventbrite.com/e/startup-weekend-seattle-legal-1014-tickets-12092776821?aff=UP+Co
mmunity+Sites
Individuals can follow the event on Twitter: @seattlelegalsw
For more information contact Dan Lear: [email protected] or Bernadette Bulacan Starin:
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