Our Advisory Board
Our advisory board represents a broad range of disciplines that intersect and align with justice tech. From investors and top industry reform advocates to academic innovators, policy experts, and tech leaders, our advisors are a vital component of JTA and are deeply committed to narrowing the justice gap through technology.
Kathryn Alteneder
Senior Strategic Advisor, Self Represented Litigation Network
Katherine Alteneder
Katherine Alteneder is an internationally recognized expert on improving justice systems to better serve people without lawyers. She currently consults on matters relating to judicial ethics, court rules, geospatial analysis, digital inclusion, and systemic advocacy and reform to build more equitable justice systems. Katherine led SRLN from 2013 – 2023, building a diverse international network of lawyers, judges, policy makers, technologists, researchers, and allied professionals creating innovative and evidence-based solutions so that self-represented litigants have meaningful access to the courts and get the legal help they need.
Before joining SRLN, Ms. Alteneder spent her career in Alaska, initially as a trial court law clerk and then as a legal aid lawyer. In 2001 Ms. Alteneder joined the Alaska Court System to design and launch the nation’s first comprehensive phone and internet-based court self-help center. In 2008 Ms. Alteneder returned to private practice establishing an innovative and successful unbundled practice, and founded the first Unbundled Law Section of a state bar. Katherine serves in an advisory capacity to many access to justice organizations and initiatives including Voices for Civil Justice, the National Center for State Court’s Justice for All Project, and is a Non-Resident Senior Fellow at the Georgetown Institute for Technology Law and Policy. In 2019 she received the National Center for State Court’s Distinguished Service Award for her work to improve access to justice. She has a BA from Northwestern University, and JD from Seattle University School of Law.
Drew Amerson
Director, LexLab
Drew Amerson
Nicole Bradick
Founder/CEO, Theory and Principle
Nicole Bradick
Nicole is a former litigator turned three-time legal technology entrepreneur, and the leading industry expert in legal technology product design and development. You can often find her doing talks on this topic on stages around the world, and she has been the driving force behind some of the most ambitious digital products in the legal industry.”
Rob Brook
Investor, Stand Together Ventures Lab
Robert Brook
Matthew Burnett
Senior Policy Officer for Access to Justice, American Bar Foundation
Matthew Burnett
Burnett has a J.D. from Seattle University School of Law and a B.A. from the University of Washington. During law school, he served as law clerk to Justice Zakeria Mohammed Yacoob of the Constitutional Court of South Africa, and as an article and content development editor for the Seattle Journal of Social Justice.
Burnett has written and presented extensively on a variety of civil access to justice topics, including legal empowerment, innovation, financing, and regulatory reform. He is co-author of the forthcoming publication, Making the Law Work for People: A Handbook on Legal Empowerment and Inclusive Innovation, and sits on the World Bank Taskforce on Access to Justice and Technology.
Art Cavazos
Corporate & Finance Partner, Jackson Walker LLP
Art Cavazos
Art’s significant finance experience includes representation of both lenders and borrowers in a variety of transactions, including syndicated, bilateral and club facilities, secured and unsecured facilities, first, second lien and mezzanine facilities, revolvers and term loans, acquisition financings, commercial real estate and construction loans, asset based loans, reserve based loans, commodities and derivatives transactions, and others. He has also helped guide lenders and borrowers through distressed loan workouts and bankruptcy debtor-in-possession financings.
Moreover, Art’s diverse transactional practice affords him broad experience that enables him to identify problems, find solutions, and help clients achieve their goals. This includes advising companies on mergers and acquisitions, corporate structuring and governance, private debt and equity securities offerings, and other complex business transactions.
Brooke Daniels
Director, Salesforce Ventures
Brooke Daniels
David Freeman Engstrom
LSVF Professor in Law, Co-Director, Deborah L. Rhode Center on the Legal Profession, Stanford Law School
David Engstrom
Professor Engstrom’s current work focuses on access to justice in the millions of low-dollar but highly consequential cases, including debt collection, eviction, foreclosure, and child support actions, that shape the lives of Americans each year. He currently serves as the Reporter for the American Law Institute’s Principles of the Law, High-Volume Civil Adjudication, which will offer courts guidance on the urgent challenges these cases raise. From 2020 to 2022, he served as a public appointee to the California State Bar’s Closing the Justice Gap Working Group, tasked with proposing reforms to foster innovation in legal services.”
John Fernandez
SVP, Innovation & Strategic Partnerships, The Mill
John Fernandez
As Dentons’ Global Chief Innovation Officer, John worked closely with the Firm’s lawyers and cross-functional teams, designing innovative programs and solutions, driving greater efficiencies, engagement and revenue. John is also a Managing Director of Nextlaw Ventures, the industry’s first global legal tech venture launched by Dentons in 2015.
Prior to joining Dentons, John served as President Barack Obama’s Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Economic Development. During his tenure, he launched groundbreaking federal initiatives to accelerate innovation-based growth strategies. John served as Bloomington, Indiana’s mayor from 1996 to 2003. With his leadership, Bloomington’s economy thrived despite facing significant changes arising from the global economy. He worked with business and Indiana University leaders to launch Bloomington’s Life Sciences Partnership, securing more than $243 million in private investments and creating more than 3,700 jobs.
Ken Friedman
Consultant and Outside General Counsel, Ken Friedman Consulting
Ken Friedman
General and Managing Partner, Lockstep Ventures
Marcus Glover
Marcus has a mission to reimagine equity for Black America and is dedicated to investing and advising Black and women-led companies that are often overlooked, underfunded and underserved. As a leader of Lockstep Ventures, he has turned his passion into meaningful change while also inspiring and empowering a systematic shift in tandem with delivering investor returns.
In addition to his work with Lockstep Ventures, Marcus serves on the National Board of Directors of Defy Ventures, which advocates for criminal justice reform and lowering recidivism by building on incarcerated men and women’s natural talents through entrepreneurship business ownership. Marcus also serves on the Time@100 Advisory Board.
Tom Gordon
Executive Director, Responsive Law
Tom Gordon
Tom received his JD from Northwestern University School of Law and his BA from the University of Pennsylvania. He is admitted to practice law in Maryland and the District of Columbia.
Richard Granat
Publisher, The Law Product Makers Blog
Richard Granat
He is presently the founder and CEO of JusticeXpress Services, Inc., an on0line self-help legal book publisher and document preparation services for self-represented parties.
He was previously the founder and CEO of SmartLegalForms, Inc., a self-help legal information services company, and DirectLaw, Inc., a virtual law firm platform provider to solos and small law firms.
Mr. Granat helped create the paralegal profession in the United States as President and Dean of the Philadelphia Institute for Paralegal Training, the nation’s first paralegal education institution and he was also a member of the first management team that created the U.S. Legal Services Program.
In 2009 he was named a “”Legal Rebel”” by the American Bar Association Journal; in 2010 he was awarded the Louis M. Brown Lifetime Achievement Award for Innovation in the Delivery of Legal Services and in 2013 the James I. Keane Memorial Award for Excellence in eLawyering..
A frequent speaker and writer, Richard’s articles about virtual lawyering and access to justice have appeared in Law Practice Today, the New York State Bar Association Journal, the Maryland State Bar Association Journal and other legal industry publications.
Deno Himonas
Partner, WSGR and former Utah Supreme Court Justice
Deno Himonas
Deno joined the firm’s litigation and appellate practices upon his retirement from the Utah Supreme Court, where he served for seven years and participated in hundreds of appeals that spanned nearly all areas of the law. Prior to his appointment to the high court, Deno served as a trial court judge in Utah for nearly 11 years. In that capacity, he tried well over 100 cases and presided over thousands of matters. These matters included the most serious of criminal cases; complex civil litigation involving, among other areas, corporate governance and tax; torts; and numerous state and federal constitutional issues. Before Deno was a judge, he spent 15 years working as a litigator for Jones Waldo Holbrook & McDonough, where he focused on complex civil litigation.
Throughout his legal career, Deno has concerned himself with issues relating to the access and affordability of civil justice in the U.S. court system. He has received widespread acclaim for his work in this arena, including distinction by the American Bar Association as a “Legal Rebel” and by the Institute for the Advancement of the American Legal System with the Rebuilding Justice Award (along with Utah attorney John Lund) for establishing Utah’s Office of Legal Services Innovation and a regulatory “sandbox” allowing entities to explore new ways of delivering legal services. More than 25 innovations are currently being piloted in the sandbox.
Deno has taught trial advocacy as an adjunct professor at the University of Utah S.J. Quinney College of Law, been honored by the College of Law as an Honorary Alumnus of the Year, and served as the Innovator-in-Residence at the College. He also has been a recipient of the Judicial Excellence award from the Utah State Bar.
Dan Jansen
CEO and Managing Director, Nextlaw Ventures
Dan Jansen
Batul Joffrey
Principal, Kapor Capital
Batul Joffrey
A SoCal native, she studied economics and statistics at UCLA, worked on the complex data and management team as a consultant at Navigant, and prior to joining KCAP, moved to the Bay Area to get acquainted with the startup ecosystem – working as Chief of Staff for a social impact startup. She is also a member of Global Shapers, an initiative of the World Economic Forum, working with a network of individuals dedicated to address local, regional, and global challenges.
Outside of work, you can find her pouring over the pages of a book, traveling and exploring different cities, and trading Pakistani chai for good conversation.
Nyra Jordan
Social Impact Investment Director, American Family Insurance Institute for Corporate & Social Impact
Nyra Jordan
Nyra holds a bachelor’s degree in Mass Communication, and master’s degrees in Criminal Justice Administration and Social Innovation and Sustainability Leadership
Jeff Kelly
Emerging Tech Attorney, Nelson, Mullins, Riley & Scarborough LLP
Jeff Kelly
Jeff also represents clients before tribunals and agencies that concentrate on regulating new technology and protecting trade secrets, including the North Carolina Business Court, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), and federal courts.
Josh King
Former Chief Legal Officer, Avvo
Josh King
Natalie Knowlton
Co-Founder & A2J Policy Principal, Access to Justice Ventures
Natalie Knowlton
Knowlton is a regular on social media outlets, where she facilitates diverse and interactive public discourse on discrete issues in access to justice and innovation in the legal profession. She sits on the Justice Technology Association (JTA) Board of Advisors, is a judge for the American Legal Technology Awards (Access to Justice category), and is listed among the American Bar Association Legal Technology Resource Center’s 2022 Women of Legal Tech. Knowlton co-founded the Denver chapter of Legal Hackers. She is also a limited partner in Overlooked Ventures and LongJump Ventures.
Knowlton is Pragmatic Marketing Certified Level III and graduated from General Assembly’s Product Management Course. She received her JD from the University of Denver Sturm College of Law and an MA in International Studies from the Josef Korbel School of International Studies. She graduated Phi Beta Kappa and summa cum laude from the University of Colorado-Boulder with a BA in International Affairs.
Dan Lear
Head of Marketing and Partnerships, Gravity Legal
Dan Lear
I’ve been on a mission to digitize the legal sector ever since. Most recently I was doing independent consulting for startups in the legal technology space and before that I did outreach and evangelism at the venture-backed online legal marketplace Avvo. At Gravity Legal we’re bringing the fintech revolution to legal. And I’m stoked to be a part of it.
Dan Linna
Director of Law + Technology Initiatives, Northwestern University
Dan Linna
Sarah Mauet
UX4Justice Director and Professor of Practice at University of Arizona’s James E. Rogers College of Law and at University of Utah’s David Eccles School of Business
Sarah Mauet
Sarah is a UX researcher and strategist with nearly 20 years of experience in website design and development, multimedia communications, and higher education instruction and administration. She has led large-scale website design projects and conducted UX evaluations for governments, courts, hospitals, universities, and startups. In her time at the University of Arizona, Sarah has served as Creative Director for Media and Technology for Digital Learning, Assistant Director for the McGuire Center for Entrepreneurship, and an adjunct instructor of multimedia journalism.
Sarah has a passion for using human-centered design for social impact, and a track record of leading award-winning, forward-thinking projects that successfully communicate, educate, and drive innovation. Sarah studied journalism and sociology at Northwestern University, and has an M.S. in Graphic Information Technology from Arizona State University.
Caitlin (Cat) Moon
Founding Co-Director of Vanderbilt AI + Law Lab and Director or Innovation Design at Vanderbilt Law School
Caitlin Moon
As Director of Innovation Design and Lecturer in Law at Vanderbilt Law School, Cat brings her experience in research and teaching human-centered design, innovation leadership, and technology at a top 20 law school to her work with individuals, teams, and firms.
Cat also directs Vanderbilt Law’s executive education program, the PoLI Institute, where she facilitates workshops for legal professionals in human-centered design, legal project management, legal operations, emerging technologies, and innovation leadership.
Before joining Vanderbilt’s faculty in 2017, Cat led a technology-powered law firm and counseled businesses from start-up to acquisition stage for 19 years. Earlier in her career, she taught communication (rhetoric, persuasion, public speaking) at two large public universities and studied innovation and change management with global industry leaders.
Nicole Morris
Professor of Practice, Director of Innovation and Legal Tech, TI:GER Program Director, Emory Law
Nicole Morris
Morris is licensed to practice before the United States Patent and Trademark Office and is admitted to practice in the states of Georgia, Minnesota, Massachusetts, and in the District of Columbia.
Jeroen Plink
Co-Founder, Legaltech Hub
Jeroen Plink
Chas Rampenthal
Former General Counsel and Head of Industry Relations, LegalZoom
Chas Rampenthal
Phil Rosenthal
President, Fastcase, Inc.
Phil Rosenthal
Phil combines his backgrounds in technology and law to bring lawyers and law librarians online legal research tools that are smarter and more intuitive. He is the face of Fastcase for bar associations and the law librarian communities and has served as the liaison from the Special Libraries Association (SLA) Legal Division to the American Association of Law Libraries. Before founding Fastcase, Phil worked at Covington & Burling in Washington, D.C., where he assisted in the development of the one of the first digital wireless cable systems. His diverse legal practice encompassed nuclear, patent, telecommunications, environmental, and corporate law. Phil has served on the Board of the MIT Enterprise Forum of Washington/Baltimore.
Phil earned a B.S. in physics from Yale University, where he graduated summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa, and earned his J.D. at Harvard Law School (magna cum laude), where he assisted Professor Arthur Miller in updating the classic treatise, Federal Practice and Procedure. He continued his studies at the California Institute of Technology, where he earned both Masters and Ph.D. degrees in physics for work in string cosmology. Phil is a
member of the New York Bar and the District of Columbia Bar.
Sameena Safdar
CEO, Amplify Your Voice, LLC
Sameena Safdar
In 2021 I founded Amplify Your Voice LLC to help companies and individuals find their voice and niche in the world. I help you define and hone your brand, then use social media and business development to share that authentically and boost your visibility.
Jim Sandman
President Emeritus, Legal Services Corporation
Jim Sandman
Jim is a summa cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Boston College. He received his J.D. cum laude from the University of Pennsylvania Law School, where he was Executive Editor of the Law Review and was elected to the Order of the Coif. He served as a law clerk to Judge Max Rosenn of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit.
Jason Solomon
Director, National Institute for Workers’ Rights
Before joining Stanford, he was a tenured professor at William and Mary Law School, where his research focused on the theory and practice of civil justice. He has served as Chief Legal Officer for a public charter school network, and his pro bono clients include habeas petitioners challenging criminal convictions and immigrants seeking relief from deportation. In law school, he represented unemployment claimants, worked at the union-side labor firm Bredhoff and Kaiser as a summer associate, and externed at the National Employment Law Project and Brooklyn Legal Services.
Earlier in his career, he worked as a law clerk for judges in the U.S. District Court in Brooklyn and the Second Circuit in Manhattan, and as an aide at the White House and U.S. Treasury Department, where he worked on economic and health policy. He is a graduate of Harvard College and Columbia Law School, and a member of the New York and Massachusetts bars.
Kristen Sonday
CEO/Co-founder at Paladin, Partner at LongJump
Kristen Sonday
Prior to Paladin, Kristen worked on international criminal matters for the U.S. Department of Justice and served on the founding team of a New York City-based tech start-up. As a result of her work to close the justice gap, she has been named an International Legal Technology Association (ILTA) Influential Woman in Legaltech, American Bar Association (ABA) Woman in Legal Tech to Watch, ABA Journal Legal Rebel, and FastCase50 honoree. Kristen also served as a Code2040 Entrepreneur-in-Residence, supporting Black and Latinx founders, and is a Partner with LongJump Ventures focused on investing in overlooked founders in Chicago.
Jason Tashea
Consultant, World Bank and Founding Director, Judicial Innovation Fellowship jasontashea.com
Jason Tashea
Jeff Ward
Director, Duke Center on Law & Technology
Jeff Ward
Through his work at Duke and as a Faculty Associate at the Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University, Ward focuses his scholarship and professional activities on the law and policy of emerging technologies, the future of lawyering, and the socio-economic effects of rapid technological change, with a focus on ensuring equitable access to the tools of economic growth and the resources of the law. In all his work on ethical technology development, he focuses on facilitating structures to allow diverse communities of stakeholders to have a voice in their socio-technical futures and on breaking down the habitual walls of law to seek inspiration and engagement from other viewpoints and disciplines.
Ward earned both his JD and his LLM in International & Comparative Law from Duke Law School, his MA in Literature from Northern Illinois University, and his BA in the Program of Liberal Studies (Great Books) and a concentration in Philosophy, Politics, & Economics from the University of Notre Dame. Before turning to the law, Ward worked first as a business consultant with a global management-consulting firm in Chicago and then as an English teacher in the Chicago suburbs.
Miguel Willis
Innovator in Residence, Future of the Profession Initiative at University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School
Miguel Willis
Willis earned a degree in Political Science from Howard University. While completing his undergraduate degree, Willis worked with the Department of Justice’s Office of Immigration Litigation. He is a 2017 graduate of the Seattle University School of Law.
Following law school, Willis held posts at the City of Seattle, Office of Immigrant & Refugee Affairs, where he assisted on legal content and strategy for the creation of a Citizenship web portal, as well as at the Alaska Court System, where he developed its Justice for All Project.
Willis’ entrepreneurial spirit, drive to innovate, and commitment to diversity and access to justice earned him recognition by the American Bar Association as a 2018 Legal Rebel and 2019 Fastcase 50 honoree. He teaches a course in Law, Technology, and Access to Justice.
Willis currently serves on the advisory board of University of Arizona James E. Rogers College of Law’s Innovation for Justice (i4J) program and serves on The Legal Services Corporation’s Emerging Leaders Council.
Molly Wood
Founder/CEO, Molly Wood Media
Molly Wood
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