Congratulations to all of those named to the Fastcase 50 this year. I am always please to see long term knowledge and library
colleagues including June Liebert, Holly Riccio, Katherine Lowery, James Duggan and Nikki Shaver included in the roster. It also has to be noted that Fastcase recognizes their competitors including Rick Merrill of Gavelytics, Ryan Walker of Casetext and Patrick Fuller and Vanessa Blum from ALM.
While the list includes many established legal technology companies and law firm it is also giving important attention and exposure to small pro bono initiatives as well as innovators in courts and law schools.
If you are in a law firm – reading through the list is a competitive intelligence exercise. It is fascinating to see the explosion of new titles and responsibilities evolving in law firms. There is a Director of an Innovation Lab (Holland and Hart), Senior Innovation Lawyer (Norton Rose), Head of IncuBaker (BakerHostetler), Director of Orrick Analytics (Orrick, Herrington & Suttcliffe).
I am most fascinated by aptly named Art Lein, Courtroom Sketch Artist – possibly the first visual artist included in the Fastcase 50. Take a moment to look through his website Courtartist.
Here is the press release:
Fastcase Announces 2021 Fastcase 50 Award Honorees
Recognizes 50 Innovators, Visionaries, and Leaders in Law
Washington, DC (July 12, 2021) – Legal intelligence company Fastcase today announced the honorees of the 2021 Fastcase 50. The award recognizes 50 of the smartest, most courageous, innovators, techies, visionaries, and leaders in the law.
View the 2021 winners at www.fastcase.com/fastcase50
Fastcase is delighted to introduce the Fastcase 50 Class of 2021. Each year since the inaugural awards in 2011, the Fastcase 50 award has spotlighted the often under-recognized efforts of pioneers and architects of the future of law and legal technology. The honorees for the Fastcase 50 Class of 2021 represent a diverse group of lawyers, legal technologists, law librarians, judges, legal researchers, innovators, and people who are passionate about reforming and automating the law.
“The past year has presented challenges that provided opportunities to advance the law, and even accelerated some innovations into the mainstream,” said Fastcase CEO Ed Walters. “We celebrate the diligence, discipline, passion, and creativity of these Fastcase 50 honorees. We are as proud as ever to spotlight the eleventh class of the Fastcase 50, highlighting now 550 people who have inspired our profession, since our first class in 2011.”
Congratulations to this year’s class of Fastcase 50 recipients:
Jason Adaska, Chief Technology Officer, Juris Futura; Director of Innovation Lab, Holland & Hart
Haley Altman, Global Head of Corporate Development, Litera
Roy Austin, Vice President of Civil Rights and Deputy General Counsel, Facebook
Brad Blickstein, Principal, Blickstein Group; Co-Head of NewLaw Practice Group, Baretz+Brunelle
Joe Borstein, CEO and Co-Founder, LexFusion
Vanessa Blum, Newsroom Innovation Director, ALM Media; Executive Editor, Law.com Radar
Bryon Bratcher, Director of Practice Solutions, Reed Smith LLP; Managing Director, Gravity Stack
Miriam Childs, Director, Law Library of Louisiana, Louisiana Supreme Court
Ming W. Chin, Justice (ret.), California Supreme Court
Ben Crump, Founder and President, Ben Crump Law, PLLC
James Duggan, Director of the Law Library and Associate Professor of Law, Tulane University Law School
Tonya Evans, Professor of Law, Penn State Dickinson Law
Lluis Faus, Co-Founder, CEO and Executive Chairman, vLex
Sam Fletcher, Research Scientist, Kira Systems
Ivan Fong, Executive Vice President, Chief Legal and Policy Officer and Secretary, 3M
Patrick Fuller, Vice President of Legal Intelligence, ALM Intelligence
Maria Hall, Director, Los Angeles Incubator Consortium
Danielle Holley-Walker, Dean and Professor of Law, Howard University School of Law
Al Hounsell, Senior Innovation Lawyer, Norton Rose Fulbright
Ben Jackson, Co-Founder and COO, Immigrants Like Us
Jay Kim, Managing Partner, Kim Vaughan Lerner
Hannah Konitshek, Business Operations & Strategy, Legal.io
Brian Lee, Serial Entrepreneur; Co-Founder, LegalZoom
Sang Lee, CEO; Co-Founder, Thine, LLC; Owner, Volta Talent Strategies;
Art Lien, Courtroom Sketch Artist, Courtartist
Dominique Shelton Leipzig, Partner, Privacy & Security and Co-Chair, Ad Tech Privacy & Data Management, Perkins Coie LLP
Mirra Levitt, Co-Founder and Chief Product Officer, Priori
June Liebert, Director of Information Services, O’Melveny & Myers LLP
Katherine Lowry, Head of IncuBaker and Director of Practice Services, BakerHostetler
Jelena Madir, General Counsel, Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance
Nicholas Magnanelli, Research & Instructional Services Librarian, Yale Law Library
Rick Merrill, Founder and CEO, Gavelytics
Laura O’Bryan, Co-Owner, MyVirtual.Lawyer; Co-Founder, MVL for Attorneys
Dyane O’Leary, Associate Professor of Legal Writing and Director of Suffolk University Law School Legal Innovation & Technology Concentration, Suffolk University Law School
Holly Riccio, Director, California Judicial Center Library
Nick Rishwain, Vice President of Business Development & Relations, Experts.com; Creator, LegalTechLive
Margo Schlanger, Wade H. and Dores M. McCree Collegiate Professor of Law, Michigan Law
Anita Carr Shapiro (In Memoriam), President Emerita, Practising Law Institute
Nikki Shaver, Managing Director of Innovation and Knowledge, Paul Hastings
Evan Shenkman, Chief Knowledge and Innovation Officer, Fisher Phillips
Daryl Shetterly, Director of Orrick Analytics, Orrick, Herring & Sutcliffe LLP
Barry Simpson, Executive Director, Pennsylvania Bar Association
Alex Smith, Global Product Management Lead, iManage RAVN
Brad Stern, County Attorney, Washington County, Wisconsin
Devin Stone, Attorney, StoneLaw DC
Jessica Stuart, Senior Product Manager, Pro Bono Net
Marcos A. Tapia, Shareholder, Tiffany & Bosco, P.A.
Alvin Tedjamulia, CTO, NetDocuments
Ryan Walker, Chief Technology Officer, Casetext
Jennifer Wondracek, Director of the Law Library; Professor of Legal Research and Writing, Capital University Law School
To view profiles of each of the winners and to learn more about the Fastcase 50 award, visit
http://www.fastcase.com/fastcase50
About Fastcase
Fastcase is a comprehensive legal intelligence company, founded in 1999 and based in Washington, D.C. Partnering with the bar associations of all 50 states and the District of Columbia, Fastcase serves more than 1.1 million lawyers from around the world. The company provides an innovative research suite of primary law, dockets, treatises, legal blogs, analytics, workflow tools, and legal news. For more information about Fastcase’s smarter legal tools, visit the company on Twitter at @Fastcase or visit www.fastcase.com.
