Legal Rebels Trailblazers

From consulting to politics, former Orrick CEO continues to beat the drum for change

When Ralph Baxter joined the inaugural class of Legal Rebels in 2009, he was the CEO and chairman of Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe. Just a year into the biggest recession since the Great Depression, he caught the ABA Journal’s attention through his initiatives that took Orrick from a domestic, California-based firm to an international heavyweight while navigating economic turbulence.

Jan 16, 2019 7:00 AM CST

Could 80 percent of cases be resolved through online dispute resolution? (podcast)

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.

Oct 17, 2018 7:00 AM CDT

Legal writing pro is helping teach AI to draft contracts (podcast)

Ken Adams has brought his contract expertise to a Pittsburgh artificial intelligence startup. The transactional lawyer stopped practicing law “the regular way,” as he puts it, in 2006 and devoted himself full time to his interest in contract language. After constant exploration on the topic, the 57-year-old 2009 ABA Journal…

Sep 12, 2018 6:00 AM CDT

Legal services innovator moves on to app development (podcast)

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.

Aug 15, 2018 6:05 AM CDT

LawPay founder and former cheerleader focuses on what lawyers need (podcast)

When Amy Porter founded the online payment platform AffiniPay, she drew on her experience as a college athlete—cheerleading while majoring in merchandising at the University of Texas at Austin—which led to work as a sales representative with the athletic clothing company Varsity Brands. “We are competitive in the fact that…

Jul 18, 2018 7:00 AM CDT

Tech is not the only answer to legal aid issues, justice center director Joyce Raby says (podcast)

Since the late 1990s, Joyce Raby has spent a career bringing technology to legal aid. While a booster and believer in technology's potential to improve America's legal system, her experience is tempering.

"We've been saying for a very long time that technology was going to be the saving grace for the justice ecosystem," she says. "I don't think it is."

Jun 13, 2018 7:00 AM CDT

From paper to digital documents, Judge Andrew Peck traveled (and set) the discovery trail (podcast)

For litigators accustomed to conducting discovery inside large warehouses surrounded by hundreds, if not thousands, of cardboard file boxes, combing through several forests' worth of paper to find the few relevant documents was like trying to find the needle in the haystack.

May 16, 2018 8:00 AM CDT

Outgoing Adobe GC Mike Dillon saw changes that digitization and globalization wrought (podcast)

Mike Dillon has seen a lot change over his career as general counsel to some of the nation’s largest technology companies.

Apr 4, 2018 8:30 AM CDT

Longtime legal tech leader Richard Granat finds a new challenge (podcast)

Before Microsoft launched Windows and AOL filled American mailboxes with floppy disks, Richard Granat was building software to improve legal services.

Mar 14, 2018 8:30 AM CDT

Mary Juetten hopes legal software can help improve access-to-justice problems (podcast)

What will be a big legal trend for 2018? Mary E. Juetten is putting her hopes on legal technology improving access-to-justice problems.

Feb 14, 2018 8:25 AM CST

Robert Litt has been out front on online threats for decades (podcast)

Robert Litt has confronted cybersecurity and encryption issues for two presidential administrations. With Russian interference in the 2016 election as a backdrop, Litt, an ABA Journal Legal Rebels Trailblazer, says the U.S. has been facing online threats essentially since the internet's creation.

Jan 10, 2018 8:30 AM CST

Catch up with the ABA Journal’s 2017 Legal Rebels Trailblazers

In each of the last 12 months, the ABA Journal has checked in with a group of legal professionals who have pioneered the use of technology for problem-solving, research and innovation, among other traits. Read about them and listen to our interviews with them.

Dec 28, 2017 1:05 PM CST