Legal Rebels

Data Broker: Josh Blandi’s platform gives firms and businesses real-time access to court records and analytics

Josh Blandi founded UniCourt, which gives law firms and businesses real-time access to court records and legal data for case research and tracking, business development, competitive intelligence and various other purposes.

Feb 1, 2023 12:02 AM CST

On Demand: Stacy Butler channels passion for legal innovation into i4J incubator

When Stacy Butler, the director of the Innovation for Justice Program, is asked if she will ever practice law again, she doesn’t hesitate to answer. “No,” Butler says. “It was adversarial and antagonistic. It did not feed my soul.”

Feb 1, 2023 12:01 AM CST

2023 Legal Rebels: Charging Forward

This year, for the first time in a while, things have started to feel somewhat normal again. That being said, when it comes to Legal Rebels, what is considered “normal” or “status quo” has never been of much concern. This year’s class is no different.

Feb 1, 2023 12:00 AM CST

Why this BigLaw firm recently started a legal ops division

Legal operations handle a lot of the business and technological stuff that many lawyers either aren’t trained to handle or don’t want to deal with. All so lawyers can focus on practicing law and representing their clients to the best of their abilities.

Dec 14, 2022 8:35 AM CST

Poll: Which ABA Journal magazine cover from 2022 was your favorite?

We covered a wide array of diverse, in-depth and hard-hitting legal topics at the ABA Journal in 2022.

Dec 12, 2022 8:47 AM CST

It’s a long road ahead for driverless cars, says Fastcase executive

There hasn’t been much progress when it comes to driverless cars. Most major car manufacturers have sunk hundreds of billions into developing and testing driverless cars; yet the finish line seems to be nowhere in sight. So what happened?

Nov 9, 2022 8:51 AM CST

How lawyers can unlock the potential of the metaverse

The metaverse is all the rage these days. Users can enter a virtual world where they can interact with people from all parts of the physical world, play games, engage in commerce and do a lot of other things. Some law firms have also seen the potential.

Oct 19, 2022 8:39 AM CDT

How technology can improve immigration policy and practice

Immigration is an area of law that lends itself well to technological innovations. It is in that intersection in which immigration lawyer Greg Siskind does his work.

Jul 20, 2022 8:36 AM CDT

Taking on unauthorized practice of law regulations to expand access to justice

A professor talks to the ABA Journal’s Victor Li about New York-based company Upsolve’s lawsuit regarding UPL rules and access-to-justice issues in general.

Jun 15, 2022 8:33 AM CDT

JusticeText wins pitch competition at SXSW

JusticeText, a technology platform that assists public defenders with processing video and audio evidence, recently won a pitch competition at the annual South by Southwest conference in Austin, Texas. The creators of JusticeText were featured as 2022 Legal Rebels by the ABA Journal in February.

Mar 21, 2022 10:30 AM CDT

When Raffi Melkonian started #AppellateTwitter, he didn’t know it would become a strong community

In the lead-up to Raffi Melkonian's first-ever oral argument before the U.S. Supreme Court three years ago, the Houston-based appellate lawyer shared on Twitter how he was preparing for his big day. Members of the #AppellateTwitter community from across the country responded with both substantive advice about appearing before the nation's highest court and practical tips such as bringing quarters so he could use one of the court's lockers to stow his belongings.

Feb 1, 2022 12:06 AM CST

Erin Levine hopes to make divorce less complex, expensive and stressful

As Erin Levine grew her own family law firm in California, she noticed several consistent challenges her clients and other parties faced when going through a divorce that made an already trying time more difficult. One was that the traditional model of hiring a lawyer to litigate often resulted in…

Feb 1, 2022 12:05 AM CST

Lawyers can use Scott Kelly’s platform to build tools and apps for their practices

Scott Kelly ended up in law in the same way a lot of people do. He grew up near Kansas City, Kansas, and became interested in politics and influencing the world in a positive way. After graduating from Yale University in 2010 and Columbia Law School in 2013, he felt…

Feb 1, 2022 12:04 AM CST

Defense attorneys have a powerful tool to review electronic evidence, thanks to JusticeText

JusticeText reviews video and audio files and generates searchable transcripts of them. The technology uses a speech-to-text machine learning algorithm to process data such as body camera videos and recordings of jailhouse conversations for users.

Feb 1, 2022 12:03 AM CST

Camila Lopez’s People Clerk gives small claims court litigants in California new options

As an undergraduate at the University of California at Berkeley, Camila Lopez often watched the 2000 film Erin Brockovich, which is based on the true story of a feisty law clerk taking on Pacific Gas & Electric Co. in a contaminated drinking water case.

Feb 1, 2022 12:02 AM CST