Author: Joseph Raczynski
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The Hearing: Episode 65 – Special *US Election* Episode
In this special US election installment of the Hearing Podcast, Sanaz Asgharzadeh, former big law firm attorney now heading her own practice, Atlas Law Firm, speak with me about the election. With the caveat that at the time of recording a victor had not yet been chosen, and with the votes continuing to be counted…
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Teaching Law With Technology Prize 2020
While the judges deliberated, I gave professors, students, lawyers, and technologists in the UK a glimpse of the technological innovations coming in the near and longer terms and sense of what this could mean for legal advisers. Blog: https://blogs.thomsonreuters.com/legal-uk/2020/10/12/linda-chaddertons-legally-bound-wins-the-teaching-law-with-technology-prize-2020/
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Podcast: The Hearing – Ron Levine – General Counsel – Herrick, Feinstein LLP
In this week’s episode, we showcase a conversation with Ron Levine, General Counsel at Herrick, Feinstein LLP. Ron, a graduate of Princeton University and Harvard Law School, speaks as a thoughtful realist, proponent for good, and a practitioner of what he preaches. He bears witness as a 40-year litigator, discussing the fascinating dealings of what…
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ILTA-ON goes on: Biggest legal tech conference of the year presses onward
Originally published on the Legal Executive Institute. By Joseph Raczynski In a year like no other, the most prominent legal technology conference recently wrapped their weeklong virtual event as the International Legal Technology Association (ILTA) morphed its annual ILTACON event into ILTA>ON. After initially vacillating on a hybrid in-person and virtual event, before ILTA decided to…
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LegalTech Report Card and Predictions 2020 to 2060 – ILTA Conference 2020
I had the privilege of being selected to report on how ILTA (International Legal Technology Association) did on their predictions from 2013 up to today, during their 2020 ILTA-ON Conference. Even more fun, predicting what technology and LegalTech will look like from 2020-2025, and then going out to 2060. Remember back when we had ‘Law…
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Podcast: The Hearing – David Brown – Legal Director at Transgender Legal Defense & Education Fund
In this episode I am joined by David Brown, Legal Director of the Transgender Legal Defense and Education Fund (TLDEF). TLDEF is a transgender-led organisation fighting for transgender rights through litigation and other legal avenues. Working with numerous law firms, David and his team bring lawsuits to demonstrate how statutes are unequal and discriminatory. David…
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Part 2: APIs: The cardiovascular system of the legal platform
Originally published on the Legal Executive Institute. By Joseph Raczynski Previously, we discussed how platforms create an ecosystem or environment that allow people and businesses to interact and accomplish tasks and ultimately create a network that can connect and benefit the entire community. Within this environment, of course, interoperability flourishes – pushing early adopters and innovators to…
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Part 1: What the heck is a legal platform and why does it matter now?
Originally published on the Legal Executive Institute. By Joseph Raczynski In the past, I’ve spoke about a possible tsunami of change within the legal industry. It is something I have been carefully watching for several years, but now I think the switch may about to be thrown. During a recent discussion about legal tech startups, Prof.…
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Part 4: Legal Geek’s Uncertain Decade – The future of legal technology & digital transformation
Originally published on the Legal Executive Institute. By Joseph Raczynski By 2030 we will see significant lawyer work being done by machines. As exponential growth of technology consumes to world, the legal industry is especially appetizing. As a result, legal services will be fundamentally different than today in terms of both job function and the way legal…
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The current status of the (virtual) courts
Originally published on the Legal Executive Institute By Joseph Raczynski Likely the single most salient after-effect of the current pandemic on the legal landscape is its impact on the courts. Previously, the variance of their technological proficiency ranged from fundamentally unchanged over the last 100 years, to jurisdictions that embraced a technological bent forward over…
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Part 3: Legal Geek’s Uncertain Decade: How does the US and the UK match-up in legal?
Originally published on the Legal Executive Institute By Joseph Raczynski In the next decade legal knowledge will be a skill, not a practice. The assumption is that knowledge is table stakes, and technology is now the enabler buoyed by flourishing legal tech startups. These industrious neophytes are marshaling services previously owned by the practice of…
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Podcast: The Hearing – Chris Mohr – VP for Intellectual Property and GC at SIIA
This week we talk privacy, piracy, and intellectual property. Before the lockdown, I sat down with Chris Mohr, VP for Intellectual Property and GC at Software and Information Industry Association. Working at the heart of the US federal government in Washington DC, Chris tells us about life as a lobbyist on Capitol Hill and how…
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How technology is ridging the financial inequality gap for the unbanked
Originally published on AnswersOn. By Gina Jurva – Joseph Raczynski The Covid-19 pandemic is exposing long-standing societal inequalities that range from access to healthcare to access to childcare and place our society is under a microscope. One of the biggest challenges is getting stimulus funds to those who need it most, especially in those cases where the…
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2020 cloud update—acceleration to platform
Originally published on Legal Insights Europe. By Joseph Raczynski Cloud adoption has increased steadily over the last several years since we last forecast an Increasingly Cloudy outlook for law firms in 2017. The most recent industry data, ILTA’s 2019 Technology Survey finds that 72 percent of those surveyed across the law firm landscape will expand their use of Cloud…
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Part 2: Legal Geek’s Uncertain Decade: Can ALSPs provide what their clients want & need?
Originally published on AnswersOn. By Joseph Raczynski General counsel (GCs) across the United States and the United Kingdom have varied approaches to the current market conditions, according to recent surveys. Interestingly, at the center of the debate is how alternative legal service providers (ALSPs) are utilized and perceived compared to traditional law firms. Not surprisingly,…
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Podcast: The Hearing – Gail Gove – General Counsel – Reuters
I spoke with Gail Gove, General Counsel at Reuters who takes us behind the scenes of the case that grabbed the world’s attention in 2018: the incredible story of Reuters journalists, Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo, who were imprisoned in Myanmar while investigating reports of mass murder. Gail and I talk about the all-encompassing…
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Part 1: Legal Geek’s Uncertain Decade: Debating the future of the legal industry
Originally published in AnswersOn. By Joseph Raczynski It’s the questions on the mind of every legal professional: What will legal life look like after the COVID-19 pandemic passes? What will this “new normal” actually be? And more specifically, if courts close and clients are shuttered, what will half the world’s lawyers do? In the first…
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Will COVID-19 Make Cash Obsolete?
Originally published on the Legal Executive Institute. By Gina Jurva – Joseph Raczynski Is the COVID-19 pandemic more quickly moving the world to a cashless society? One where almost all financial transactions are not conducted with physical banknotes or coins, but rather through the transfer of digital information via a smartphone? Thomson Reuters technologist and…
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Work From Home Checklist
Last week I created a checklist for those organizations that have not had people, at scale, work from home. There are two lists. The first list helps someone who has not worked from home previously checkoff that they have all the necessary resources from A-Z to do everything they would normal do at their office. …
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LegalWeek 2020: Leveraging AI to Combat Financial Crimes
Originally published in the Legal Executive Institute. By Joseph Raczynski NEW YORK — With increasing data flow among global financial institutions expanding, compounded by newly minted hybrid financial organizations in FinTech, managing these highly regulated transactions is progressively more complicated. A panel at last week’s LegalWeek 2020 explored the anti-money laundering (AML) trends in 2020, discussed the…
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Podcast: The Hearing – Meredith Williams-Range – Chief Knowledge and Client Value Officer at Shearman & Sterling
In this week’s episode, I am joined by the preeminent thought leader in legal tech, and Chief Knowledge and Client Value Officer at Shearman & Sterling, Meredith Williams-Range. Taking us on a journey from her small-town, rural upbringing just outside of Memphis (where you’ll find the absolute best BBQ) to the bright lights of New…
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World Bank Presentation on Access to Justice Through Technology
Recently I had the opportunity to present at the World Bank on “Access to Justice”. My focus for this talk was on how people around the world can be lifted from poverty with new tools enabled by mobile phones. Through the use of blockchain and AI, people can learn how to protect themselves and seek…
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Podcast: The Hearing – Sandie Okro – SVP & GC, The World Bank
This week’s distinguished guest is Sandie Okoro, the Senior Vice President and General Counsel for the World Bank. I sat down with Sandie who talks about how, from an early age, she learned that when someone limits your ambition it can become something to fight for and drive you on to enormous success. In…
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Justice for all? The impact of AI & blockchain on legal accessibility
Originally published on AnswersOn By Joseph Raczynski I have been incredibly fortunate to have traveled extensively, which has impacted my global vision. Visiting almost 40 countries, I have witnessed firsthand the enormous discrepancies in wealth, opportunities, and lifestyles that exist around the world today. I’ve seen the lavish gilded rooms, complete with Picassos on the…
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The 4th Annual Government Day: The Reality and Skepticism of Innovation and Blockchain
Originally published on the Legal Executive Institute By Joseph Raczynski WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Government sector strives to ramp up its efforts to more widely integrate cutting edge technologies like blockchain, artificial intelligence, and the Internet of Things (IoT), it is running into a myriad of challenges. Not the least among them, is separating the…
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Legal technology conference (r)evolution—the launch of Legal Geek North America
Originally published in Legal Insights Europe. By Joseph Raczynski Like the legal industry itself, legal technology conferences are transforming and Legal Geek is leading the change. These industry events are finally beginning to mirror the, more, customer centric start-up community perspective. Taking a step back, a decade ago the most renown and popular legal industry conferences…
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Cybersecurity at the centre – competing globally with different rules
Originally published on Legal Insights Europe. By Joseph Raczynski The topic of global cybersecurity will challenge each one of us. It is an unstable concoction of cultural norms and legal property rights patiently awaiting attention before it bursts. The overarching question is ‘how can legal organizations and overall society manage rising threats to the integrity of…
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An initiative for global prosperity: tech savvy start-ups compete to solve world problems
Originally published on AnswersOn. By Joseph Raczynski The Global Maker Challenge is an online open-innovation platform that offers an opportunity for “makers” and innovators to connect and collaborate, across the globe, and try to solve real-world problems affecting people’s lives. ABU DHABI & DUBAI, UAE — Recently the Mohammed bin Rashid Initiative for Global…
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Consensus 2019: Blockchain’s Biggest US Conference Sees Increased Legal Oversight Coming
Originally published on The Legal Executive Institute. By Joseph Raczynski NEW YORK — The fifth annual Consensus — the preeminent cryptocurrency and blockchain conference powered by CoinDesk — wrapped a rousing three-day event in mid-May that produced several legal-leaning themes in the ever-mingling world of technology and the law. On the anti-money laundering (AML) front, Sigal P. Mandelker, Under-Secretary for the…
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What is the current state of legal technology around the world?
Originally published on Legal Insights Europe by Joseph Raczynski Technology discussions once reserved solely for select Chief Information Officers (CIO), Chief Technology Officers (CTO), and technologists—are now commonplace for executive committees, partners, and associates at law firms. This transformative shift over the last four years is remarkable to witness. With wider audiences leaning into the…
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Kleros.io (a Thomson Reuters Incubatee) Publishes Handbook of Decentralized Justice
Kleros.io is a blockchain startup which Thomson Reuters incubates in the Legal Technology space. They recently published a book about dispute resolution using blockchain technology. I had the good fortune to work with Federico Ast, Founder & CEO on a chapter for the book. Please feel free to download a digital copy here: Kleros’ Handbook…
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Modern Law Magazine: Embarking on an Era of Abundance in the Legal Industry
Here is my latest post from Modern Law Magazine. By Joseph Raczynski Over the course of the next five years, the legal industry will be flush with opportunity. While much of the rote legal work will be done by automation, producing a period of interstitial angst at law firms, burgeoning areas of technology necessitating legal…
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Traveling Around the World (literally – 37,503 miles or 60,355 KM) – A Global Jaunt to Connect with Customers
Over the last eight weeks I have traveled around the world to meet our customers, with enough miles technically to have traversed the earth one and a half times or over 37,000 miles. Background: I had the good fortune to visit customers and present in London, Grand Cayman, New York, Dubai, Washington DC, Auckland, and…
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Video: Generate 2018 – Darkside of the Web
Have you wondered what is going on these days on the Web with cybersecurity for Law Firms? This is a deep dive and more information on how a hacker goes after IoT devices from the Generate Conference in London.
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Video: Generate 2018 – Blockchain & Legal
What does the future of blockchain look like in the Legal industry. See this overview with special insights from Kleros on how dispute resolution might be enabled through this technology.
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Forum Magazine: Blockchain’s Promise – Verifying Value One Block at a Time
Originally published in Forum Magazine by Joseph Raczynski Blockchain technology is truly transformative, impacting almost every industry. Over the next decade, this technology will significantly transmute the legal landscape as well – a process that has already begun. Blockchain was initially considered a ridiculous notion – the idea of a digitized ledger beholden to no single…
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The vice grip of cybersecurity concerns on law firms
Originally published on Legal Insights UK & Ireland By Joseph Raczynski Law firms stand in a very precarious position in the cybersecurity world. Next to financial institutions, private legal institutions are a virtual honey pot for cybercriminals. Any breach, no matter the size, impacts the client, and certainly could destroy a firm’s reputation. Four years ago,…
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Risk Management in the Cryptosphere: A Talk with Gibson Dunn’s Judith Alison Lee
Originally published in the Legal Executive Institute By Joseph Raczynski Cryptocurrencies and its underlying blockchain technology is upending the traditional paradigm for financial institutions and regulators around risk management. This disruption includes unique challenges around identity association and verification in the cryptosphere, specifically around decentralized exchanges, applications (DApps), and identities. We discussed these topics with Judith Alison Lee, a…
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How medium-sized law firms can use legal tech to compete with the big industry players
Originally published in the Legal Insights UK & Ireland By Joseph Raczynski The familiar trio of ‘People, Process, and Technology’ play a role in every business. However, as medium-sized law firms increasingly compete for the same pool of clients with large law, it is the ‘Process and Technology’ that are shifting, and levelling the playing field.…
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Legislating for the future: Drones in the UK
Portions originally published in The Guardian. by Joseph Raczynski 1. What are your thoughts on the UK’s drone regulations/regulatory approach, and how does it compare to other approaches around the world? Are there any ideas we should borrow from Australia, the US, etc? Drone enthusiast beware, a new era of regulation is about to hit…
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Artificial Intelligence and the UK vs. US Approach
Originally published on Legal Insights UK & Ireland By Joseph Raczynski, edits, questions and preface by Ann Lundin and Joe Davis. Artificial intelligence will threaten most jobs at some point soon—and new jobs will emerge’ The impact of innovative technology is undoubtedly going to radically reshape the delivery of legal services in the years ahead. To…
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Classification of Cryptocurrency: Coins, Tokens & Securitized Tokens
Originally published in the Legal Executive Institute. By Joseph Raczynski One of the most contentious debates in the cryptocurrency world surrounds classification of blockchain-based digital assets, tokens and cryptocurrencies. A panel at the recent Thomson Reuters Regulation of Financial Services Conference discussing the basics of cryptocurrencies examined this argument. With more than 1,650 cryptocurrencies or tokens trading in…
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Kill Chain: The 7 Stages of a Cyberattack
Originally published in the Thomson Reuters Tax & Accounting Blog By Joseph Raczynski In our new world reality where cyberattacks are a daily occurrence and every organization must focus on critical infrastructure surrounding cybersecurity, businesses have begun to think like the military. How can we defend our enterprise? To that end, it’s not surprising that companies…
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Podcast: The Hearing With Kevin Poulter & Joseph Raczynski – Future Legal
Episode 2 of THE HEARING is now live! In episode 2 of The Hearing Podcast Kevin Poulter speaks to futurist Joseph Raczynski on #legaltech #AI #blockchain and the future of the robot lawyer. Listen now and subscribe to #thehearingpodcast on: iTunes – https://tmsnrt.rs/2swyzmz Spotify – https://tmsnrt.rs/2kOOpVw SoundCloud – https://tmsnrt.rs/2Js4deI
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Harvard Business School Panel: How Should ICOs and Cryptocurrencies Be Governed?
Originally published in the Legal Executive Institute by Joseph Raczynski BOSTON — Recently I moderated a session at Harvard Business School surrounding its first annual Business, Regulation and Technology of Blockchain Conference. It was held in conjunction with the MIT China Innovation & Entrepreneurship Fund and the Harvard Law Entrepreneurship Project’s Blockchain Initiative. Before a crowd of…
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Cyberattacks are here to stay – protect your organization with these 10 best practices
Originally published on the Thomson Reuters Tax & Accounting Community Connect by Joseph Raczynski Our online connections can be downright frightening! The diabolical among us seize every opportunity to plunder our personal information. In fact, FireEye, a leading cybersecurity corporation, has some startling statistics to support this. When conducting an audit of 1,200 companies, they found…
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Podcast: What the Heck is blockchain?
I had the pleasure of being a part of the Thomson Reuters Innovation Podcast series recently. This was a discussion about blockchain. In this talk with Katherine Manuel, Senior Vice President of Innovation in Strategy/Business Development, Jordan Kleinsmith – Director, Innovation in Strategy/Business Development and Sam Chadwick – Director of Strategy in Innovation and Blockchain in…
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Beyond Cryptocurrency: 5 Questions about the Future of Blockchain for Thomson Reuters Technologist Joe Raczynski
Written by Gina Scialabba and originally published by the Legal Executive Institute Blockchain — we’ve all heard about it, and also heard that it will certainly disrupt the financial, legal and public sector worlds near you. The real questions surrounding the future of blockchain, however, relates to the evolution of its virtual ledger technology and the ways…
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Podcast: The Technology of Blockchain & Cryptocurrencies with Judith Alison Lee of Gibson Dunn (Part 2)
Originally published in the Legal Executive Institute. By Joseph Raczynski, Gregg Wirth, and Judith Alison Lee In the second part of our podcast on the technology behind blockchain and cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, I speak with Judith Alison Lee, a partner in the Washington, D.C. office of Gibson Dunn & Crutcher and Co-Chair of the firm’s International Trade…
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Podcast: The Technology of Blockchain & Cryptocurrencies with Judith Alison Lee of Gibson Dunn (Part 1)
Originally published in the Legal Executive Institute. By Joseph Raczynski, Gregg Wirth, and Judith Alison Lee In the first part of our podcast on the technology behind blockchain and cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, I speak with Judith Alison Lee, a partner in the Washington, D.C. office of Gibson Dunn & Crutcher and Co-Chair of the firm’s International Trade…