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.