In today’s episode no. 30 you are in for a treat to hear from Hallie Jay Pope, founder and director of the Graphic Advocacy Project “GAP”, a non-profit that uses visual communication tools---like comics, graphic design, and animation---to explain legal concepts and advance social justice. Hallie works with advocates and communities across the United States to create visual legal resources that engage, inform, and mobilize. Hallie is a delightful and creative person and very clear about her missi...
Mar 16, 2020•1 hr 3 min•Ep. 30
In today’s episode no. 29 I had the pleasure of speaking with Carolyn Devries, CEO and founder of Australia’s first non profit law firm New Way Lawyers for today’s episode. When Carolyn experienced a disconnect between how law is practised and what she learned in law school, and wanted to find a way to express her core values through her work, she developed the idea of and founded new way lawyers 10 years ago. Carolyn has strong views and advocates at every opportunity as to why legal services t...
Mar 02, 2020•56 min•Ep. 29
In today’s episode no. 28, I interview John Mayer, Executive Director of the Centre for Computer Assisted Learning Instruction (CALI) since 1994. CALI is a non-profit consortium of 198 US law schools that conducts applied research in computer-mediated legal education and publishes over 1000 tutorials in 40 different legal subject areas for law schools, law firms and others interested in learning about the law. CALI also publishes Creative Commons law books at elangdell.cali.org and is the develo...
Feb 17, 2020•51 min
In today’s episode no. 27, I interview Meera Klemola, legal designer extraordinaire. We discuss what Meera appreciates about design - how it can break down silos between lawyers and other professionals, allow for empathy, change mindsets and de-risk solutions. I asked her the benefits and limitations of design thinking and how it compares to systems thinking. Meera has carefully considered all these issues through her work and postgraduate study into teaching design to non-designers, in particul...
Feb 03, 2020•1 hr 6 min•Ep. 27
In today’s episode no. 26 I speak with Rohan Pavuluri, co-founder and CEO of Upsolve, a non-profit that helps low-income families file bankruptcy for free, using an online web app. In the last 12 months, Upsolve has relieved over $100 million in debt and is the largest not for profit provider of bankruptcy in the US. In this episode we discuss the issues that Rohan and his co-founder Jonathan Petts wanted to address in starting Upsolve, how the online platform actually works and who it is most s...
Jan 20, 2020•52 min•Ep. 26
In today’s episode no. 25, Edward Santow, Australia’s Human Rights Commissioner speaks to Reimagining Justice about one of many projects he is responsible for, namely the Commission’s Human Rights and Technology project. Whether you know a little or a lot about human rights or artificial intelligence, you will gain something from listening to our conversation about the most extensive consultation into AI and Human Rights anywhere in the world. Ed explains exactly what human rights are and why th...
Dec 09, 2019•1 hr 1 min•Ep. 25
In today’s episode no. 24 Karen Finch, CEO of Legally Yours explains the reasons people don’t engage with lawyers and which suggested an online platform connecting clients with lawyers would be a valuable idea. Karen explains how the connections are made through the platform and what is critical to a successful relationship between lawyer and client. She shared the biggest challenge she’s faced in promoting the platform and what is unique about it, including what she’s learnt and applied from da...
Nov 25, 2019•57 min•Ep. 24
In today’s episode no. 23, Stacy Butler, Director, of Innovation for Justice at the University of Arizona Law speaks about the courses she coordinates and teaches, how they came about, what they teach including how they incorporate design thinking methodologies, but most importantly what they add to systems reform in Arizona and especially their local community. I was amazed to hear about the collaboration both within the courses themselves, with students from a broad range of disciplines, and c...
Nov 11, 2019•51 min•Ep. 23
In today’s episode no. 22, I had the great pleasure of speaking with Katie who is currently the Deputy commissioner of IBAC in Victoria and who in 2015 as then President of the Law Institute of Victoria wrote a paper “Disruption, Innovation and Change”. Her reasons for doing that research were quite unexpected, as was the connection she draws between tech, atj and her happy place the queen Victoria market! You will gain a lot from this episode if you are a legal tech start up or technology compa...
Oct 28, 2019•49 min•Ep. 22
In Episode no. 21 I interview the “father of incubators” Fred Rooney. Fred generously shares his vast experience in establishing incubators in the US and other places around the world. From one program with nine students established around 15 years ago in New York, there are now over 70 programs worldwide training law graduates in areas of law that enable them to serve their local communities, as well as how to run a viable practice. Incubators are unique training programs supported by a law sch...
Oct 14, 2019•52 min•Ep. 21
In this episode no. 20 I interview Sue Garlick, the first community legal centre lawyer on the podcast. Sue is Joint Director of LawRight, formerly QPILCH, a pro bono clearing house in Queensland which increases access to justice for vulnerable people through strategic partnerships with pro bono professionals. Sue explains why LawRight - which itself was an innovation for its time - was established and shared her thoughts on innovation broadly and especially in the legal assistance sector, as we...
Sep 30, 2019•52 min•Ep. 20
In this episode no. 19 I interview Mark Swivel and Fiona Spencer of Barefoot Law. Mark is the founder and principal, and Fiona an associate at Barefoot Law which is a low cost community legal clinic based in the Northern Rivers of New South Wales. Barefoot Law is taking a unique approach to providing legal advice to its local community in a way that shouldn’t be a surprising – by charging extremely affordable fees. You might be surprised just how affordable! Keep listening to find out how the co...
Sep 16, 2019•1 hr•Ep. 19
In this episode no. 18 I interview the first technology provider on the podcast! Dominique Simsion is Asia-Pacific Director of Consulting and Solutions at Neota Logic - the no code AI platform that enables the creation of intelligent web applications. Dominique explains what no-code document automation and expert systems are, the origins and evolution of the LawApps course which is a university course teaching project management and other skills that haven’t traditionally been part of a law degr...
Sep 01, 2019•50 min•Ep. 18
In this episode no. 17 I was again fortunate to interview 2 people who’ve been part of a team working on an online tool to make it easier, quicker and cheaper for people to sort out claims arising from motor vehicle accidents. One of the guests is an expert in personal injuries law having represented people in some high profile and serious claims of sexual misconduct etc. and the other has a PhD in physics and before her current role was a post doc research fellow with the institute for bioengin...
Aug 18, 2019•56 min•Ep. 17
In this episode no. 16 I interview Miguel Willis, a 2017 graduate from Seattle University School of Law and currently the inaugural Presidential Innovation Fellow at Law School Admission Council, where he oversees the Access to Justice Tech Fellows Program which is a program that pairs law students with legal services organizations to develop projects that support the use of technology, data, and design-thinking to bridge the justice gap in America. Miguel is committed to leveraging his law degr...
Aug 04, 2019•55 min•Ep. 16
In this episode no. 15, I speak with namely Andrew Wight and Kath Manby of Adieu Legal, two people doing amazing work to make law better for people with family law disputes. Andrew is an entrepreneur and multi-award-winning designer; CEO and co-founder of Adieu Legal, a Legal Tech start-up focused on creating better ways for humans to resolve conflict. Kath is a family lawyer with a single-minded passion for access-to-justice and as Legal Principal at Adieu Legal, exploring new ways to use techn...
Jul 21, 2019•55 min•Ep. 15
In this episode no. 14, I speak with Joanna Mendoza, a member of the California State Bar Board of Trustees since 2013, and currently a member of the Task Force on Access Through Innovation of Legal Services. Joanna and I discussed the recommendations voted upon by the Task Force on 28 June and where to from here. She shared why people from disciplines other than law need to be on a body that regulates lawyers, and where the risks should lie in the provision of legal services. We also talked abo...
Jul 07, 2019•50 min•Ep. 14
In this episode no. 13, I interview Tim Baran, Law Help NY manager at Pro Bono net. Tim works with communities across the legal services, non-profit, and technology sectors to build solutions to help close the justice gap and expand access to legal help for low-income and vulnerable people. I found my conversation with Tim very refreshing. It seems to me that Tim is an open minded realist He made many great points especially about how we need a high level of collaboration to solve the access to ...
Jun 23, 2019•1 hr 9 min•Ep. 13
In this episode no. 12, I interview lawyer and founder of Barefoot Law in Uganda, Gerald Abila. Founded in 2013, Barefoot Law is a non-profit organization using digital technology in innovative ways to empower people to develop legal solutions for their justice needs. We covered so much in this interview including the specific challenges in sub-Saharan Africa, the type of tech that Barefoot Law uses most, how they reached the most vulnerable members of the community when tech couldn’t, and Geral...
Jun 09, 2019•1 hr 12 min•Ep. 12
In this episode no. 11, I interview lawyer and academic Caitlin "Cat" Moon; the Director of Innovation Design for the Program in Law and Innovation (PoLI) at Vanderbilt Law School and Director of the PoLI Institute which provides training in legal innovation to practicing lawyers and legal professionals. I could relate to the fact that Cat’s experience spans academia, innovation, private practice and public service law. The expansiveness of her work means she can see synergies where others don’t...
May 26, 2019•1 hr 1 min•Ep. 11
In this episode no. 10, I interview lawyer and entrepreneur Suzanna Kalendzhian. Suzanna is Co-founder and CEO of Legal Advice Middle East, the AI-powered legal services marketplace which operates in 13 countries across the region and helps people to access justice by allowing them to find, communicate and transact with lawyers online. In this episode Suzanna shares her personal journey as a female legal entrepreneur working in the middle east, why she believes in the vision of Legal Advice Midd...
May 12, 2019•47 min•Ep. 10
In this episode no. 9 I interview Professor of Law Lois R Lupica who is currently visiting Melbourne Law School as a fulbright senior scholar. As lawyers we sometimes struggle to understand the complexity of legal information. This is magnified for those without a legal education especially if they are experiencing stress in their lives. While Lois’ research is all about making legal self-help materials easier to understand, this episode will be of interest if you’ve ever had to transform any ki...
Apr 28, 2019•54 min•Ep. 9
In this episode no 8 I speak with Indian based lawyer Kanan Dhru. Kanan is a legal innovator with over 10 years of experience in the areas of law, policy-making and justice innovations. She is a strong believer in the benefits of simplifying legal information and in 2014, won the “Innovating Justice Award” at the International Court of Justice in the Hague for her groundbreaking work as founder of Lawtoons, LawForMe and the Research Foundation for Governance in India. In a country that is one of...
Apr 14, 2019•37 min•Ep. 8
In this episode no. 7, I speak with Chrissie Lightfoot, a London based lawyer, creator of Robot Lawyer Lisa and CEO of Entrepreneur Lawyer, a global consulting company. Chrissie is an international speaker and author and last year was named one of the American Bar Association’s Law Technology Resource Center’s Women of Legal Tech . The theme for this episode is “robot lawyers and automating legal expertise” with a tagline “it’s all about the customer” as this is a big driver for Chrissie. In the...
Mar 31, 2019•51 min•Ep. 7
In this episode I speak with Katie Richards, lawyer, founder and CEO of online law firm Virtual Legal. Katie and her team are achieving their ambitious vision to deliver a sophisticated public self service legal system. Katie shares how she went from corporate lawyer to running an online law firm; practical and regulatory challenges she’s faced, how she came back from an incident that nearly destroyed her company - and her tip for action towards the end of the interview is gold. You will hear ab...
Mar 17, 2019•44 min•Ep. 6
Today we hear from lawyer Melissa Moss, an access to justice strategist based in Florida. With her extensive experience in legal aid organisations, Melissa has strong views on the best uses of technology, explains what “community lawyering” is in simple terms, and on a more personal note shares how she keeps up with all the latest information and how to incorporate what she learns into the projects she’s working on. The theme for this episode is taking time to understand the problem and learning...
Mar 03, 2019•45 min•Ep. 5
Andrea talks with Luke Geary, founding partner of the world’s first social enterprise law firm, Salvos Legal. Luke is a creative and strategic thinker but also someone who makes things happen. We covered so many topics including how he came up with the idea of a social enterprise model for a law firm, the challenges of running a business, his work to end modern slavery, investing in local communities, what he considers to be legal innovation and how technology can minimise legal disputes, and to...
Feb 17, 2019•52 min•Ep. 4
Andrea speaks with Shannon Salter, chair of one of the world’s first online dispute resolution tribunals! Shannon was very open about the challenges of establishing the Civil Resolution Tribunal, made surprising observations about how the service is being used by Canadians and the benefits of resolving disputes online. Her comments about how online dispute resolution is strengthening communities is fascinating. Also listen in to find out what a wall has to do with the success of the tribunal (yo...
Feb 03, 2019•48 min•Ep. 3
Andrea talks with Mark A Cohen, a global thought leader with decades of deep and varied experience in the legal industry. Mark is the CEO of Legal Mosaic a legal business consultancy; Distinguished Fellow at Northwestern University Law School; regular contributor to Forbes where he has a column on the global legal marketplace; and sought-after international speaker. Mark was recently appointed by the Singapore Academy of Law to serve as its inaugural LIFTED “Catalyst-in-Residence” and he has won...
Jan 20, 2019•45 min•Ep. 2
Andrea starts close to home in this first episode, in speaking with Mollie O’Connor, an Aboriginal law student whose family is from Minjerribah (also known as Stradbroke Island) near Brisbane in Queensland, Australia. As coordinator of its first access to justice hackathon Mollie is doing ground-breaking work as a founding member of The Legal Forecast, a not-for-profit organisation which aims to advance the legal profession through innovation and technology. She is a purpose driven individual, a...
Jan 20, 2019•41 min•Ep. 1
