Month: November 2022

Over seven years as a litigator of complex commercial and antitrust cases, Dan Hauck had become frustrated over how difficult it was for legal teams to collaborate around matters. In 2014, he left his law firm, Bryan Cave, to start ThreadKM, a matter-centric legal collaboration platform. As the product evolved, it developed integrations with the document management platform NetDocuments, and in 2017, NetDocuments acquired ThreadKM, resulting in the NetDocuments product ndThread. 

Now, Hauck is chief product officer at NetDocuments, where he is responsible for the company’s strategic vision, partnerships, products, user interface and roadmap. Over the past year, he was instrumental in the company’s launch of PatternBuilder, a product for building applications and automating legal documents, and its acquisition of Worldox. 

Earlier this month, at the NetDocuments three-day Inspire 2022 conference for customers and partners, LawNext host Bob Ambrogi sat down with Hauck for a live conversation about the

…
Read More

News

The American Law Institute Launches Principles Project on High-Volume, High-Stakes, Low-Dollar-Value Civil Claims

The American Law Institute Launches Principles Project on High-Volume, High-Stakes, Low-Dollar-Value Civil Claims

PHILADELPHIA — The American Law Institute’s Council voted today to approve the launch of a Principles of the Law project that will address a serious challenge facing state courts: the adjudication of high-volume, high-stakes, low-dollar-value civil claims. The project will be led by Reporter David Freeman Engstrom of Stanford Law School.

These types of claims, which arise in such areas as debt collection, evictions, home foreclosures, and child support, comprise a significant proportion of state court cases. These types of cases raise unique issues as they are frequently uncontested, resulting in high numbers of default judgments, and typically feature at least one party without a lawyer.

“State court dockets have become dominated by cases that, although smaller-scale and arguably less complex than other types of civil litigation, are decidedly high-stakes for many of the litigants. These

…
Read More
donald trump

(Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

In light of Donald Trump’s announcement Tuesday that he intends to mount a third presidential campaign to make America great yet again, Attorney General Merrick Garland has named former Justice Department lawyer Jack Smith as special counsel to investigate the former president and his many, many crimes.

Smith, a former prosecutor at the special court in The Hague for war crimes in Kosovo who once headed the DOJ’s Public Integrity Section, has conducted multiple high-profile public corruption cases, including Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell and Arizona Rep. Rick Renzi for bribery and extortion.

In a hastily convened press conference, the AG vested Smith with authority over the two ongoing investigations of Donald Trump. Henceforward the sprawling queries into Trump’s involvement in the plot to use fake electors to obstruct certification of President Biden’s victory, as well as the more targeted inquiry into the theft of government

…
Read More

The University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School has launched the Future of the Profession Laba state-of-the-art, interdisciplinary, problem-solving center that will work to address the most significant challenges facing the American legal profession. Jim Sandman, senior consultant to the Future of the Profession Initiative (FPI), and a Law School alumnus, will serve as the director of the Lab.

People seated at tables in front of the Penn Law building in the courtyard on a sunny day.

The Lab’s focus will be on pervasive problems and scalable solutions, including enhancing client service by developing new delivery models generated through human-centered design, and promoting the widespread adoption of technologies that democratize law, making it more accessible for people who need to use the legal system at all levels. It will work to simplify court processes to improve efficiency and reduce friction for litigants, lawyers, and judges, and create new approaches to work and workplace environments to enhance talent retention. Additionally, the Lab will work to improve access to justice

…
Read More

Criminal LawLegal professionals specialise in a wide number of fields from personal injury and legal law to immigration, enterprise and finances. In truth, life on the row” means the tip of autonomy. Indeed, in some U.S. states, these sentenced to demise are forced to take a prescribed amount of sedation every day, so as to create a serenity meant to ease the work of those employed to protect them. This system has been analogized to the often alleged overuse of medicine in psychological health amenities, more geared to the consolation of staff than reduction of the sufferers’ anxieties.

Landlords should be conscious that illegal eviction may end in appreciable fees and penalties that will range from hundreds of kilos and even jail sentences. Considering that an unlawful eviction might need such significant implications, any property supervisor should be aware of this as an alternative of assuming they’ll merely get around laws …

Read More
Petitions of the week


By Kalvis Golde

on Nov 18, 2022
at 2:31 pm

A courier drops off a package at the Supreme Court

The Petitions of the Week column highlights a selection of cert petitions recently filed in the Supreme Court. A list of all petitions we’re watching is available here.

For the second time in just over three years, the Supreme Court may determine the future of the federal watchdog agency that seeks to protect consumers in the financial sector.

Three terms ago in Seila Law v. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the justices ruled by a vote of 5-4 that Congress violated the separation of powers when it placed the CFPB under the control of a single director removable by the president only for cause, as opposed to at will. The court, however, declined to invalidate the entire agency for this structural flaw, instead severing the for-cause provision from the rest of its authorizing statute. This

…
Read More

By Paul J. Moorman

IALL 2022 was chockablock with wonderful programs and one of the best was saved for the last day with a program on “Business & Human Rights” by Stanford Law School Lecturer Jamie O’Connell.  O’Connell’s program described the origins, development, and status of the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (“Guiding Principles”). The Guiding Principles are the most authoritative human rights standards businesses are expected to follow. And while they are not binding, they have been shown to have significant and increasing normative force and practical effect on the behavior of businesses.

The first attempt to identify the human rights obligations of businesses began in the early 2000s with a group of experts, largely from academia, who drafted a set of binding rules.  These rules included, most controversially, a guarantee that businesses were not only responsible for following human rights obligations but also

…
Read More

Dillonyang Sq

Dillon Yang, a third-year student at Notre Dame Law School, has been awarded one of the highest scholarships from the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association (NAPABA) Law Foundation. The foundation promotes the development, advancement, leadership, and public service of Asian Pacific Americans in the legal profession and supports law students through its scholarship programs. The $7,500 Presidential Scholarship is awarded to two law students each year. Recipients are selected based on their demonstrated outstanding leadership to the Asian American and Pacific Islander community.

“Uplifting and serving the AAPI community is a cause that I will work to make a change in the entirety of my legal career. I am happy that I’ve been able to positively impact my communities, and I am deeply honored that the NAPABA Law Foundation and NAPABA president AB Cruz III found me worthy of this high recognition,” said Yang.

Yang currently serves as

…
Read More

The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law is a transformative, historic investment in lives and livelihoods across America. It represents a new opportunity for farmers, ranchers, small businesses and rural communities. It is helping the US Department of Agriculture deliver 21st century, high-speed internet for better access to markets, jobs, telemedicine and distance learning. It is increasing community resilience to climate change, drought and wildfire risks. It’s also providing innovative solutions to economic, environmental and social challenges across the nation.

“Investing in infrastructure is essential to American competitiveness and ensuring hard working Americans have the tools and opportunities to build a good life—especially for rural and underserved communities,” said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack. “Since being signed into law, President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law is demonstrating how building up American infrastructure enhances competitiveness and improves climate resilience while building a stronger, more equitable and inclusive economy.”

The USDA continues to be a critical part

…
Read More

AffiniPay, the parent company of payments platform LawPay and practice management platform MyCase, today named Catherine Dawson, a lawyer with 20 years of experience in data privacy, cybersecurity and mergers and acquisitions, as its general counsel. The news comes a week after AffiniPay named another woman to its executive suite, marketing and software executive Ana Villegas as its chief marketing officer.

The company’s C-suite already included a woman CEO, Dru Armstrong, and a woman EVP of people resources, Erin Brooks. The company was founded by a woman, Amy Porter, who remains its executive chairperson.

This news is particularly noteworthy given that women and people of color remain underrepresented among legal technology founders and executives. A survey last year by Kristen Sonday, cofounder and COO of legal tech startup Paladin, found just 57 women founders of legal technology companies.

Dawson (pictured right above)

…
Read More