BYU Law to Host Two Legal Technology Events

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Summary: BYU Law School will be the hosting ground for two upcoming legal events dealing with technology in the legal marketplace.

BYU Law School will be hosting two events during the current month. This coming weekend (2/16) BYU Law will host the 2018 Blockchain Summit. At the end of the month, the law school will host the Global Legal Hackathon on February 22-24, according to a BYU Law School announcement.

  

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BYU Law Dean Gordon Smith said, “These events are the latest examples of BYU Law’s legal technology innovation, and we expect our students to play a prominent role in both, alongside entrepreneurs and professionals of diverse backgrounds. BYU Law is located along Utah’s Wasatch Front, which has been dubbed the Silicon Slopes for its rich entrepreneurial environment, attracting technologists, venture capitalists, incubators and ambitious students. It is fertile ground for the type of innovation these initiatives represent.”

The Blockchain Summit brings together preeminent scholars, practitioners, and thought leaders to continue the discussion of how blockchain technology transforms institutions, markets, civil life, and digital relationships. The BYU MBA program, Parsons Behle & Latimer, Peak Ventures, and ULedger are co-sponsoring the event.

Keynote speakers will include Jonathan Johnson, a BYU Law alumnus and president of Medici Ventures Inc. – a subsidiary of Overstock; Timothy Ruff, CEO of Evrnym; and Jai Massari, a financial institutions partner at Davis Polk & Wardwell in Washington D.C. The panels include Emergence of Cryptocurrencies and Initial Coin Offerings, Financial Applications of Blockchain and Disruptive Potential of Blockchain, and Property and Real Estate.

Third-year BYU Law School student Ryan Lewis organized the summit, which is to be held at the Hinckley Alumni Center.

BYU Law was selected to host the Global Legal Hackathon, organized by IBM Watson and Integra Ledger. This will be the first of this event and the largest legal hackathon in history with the inclusion of 39 cities across six continents and over 10,000 participants putting in a total 54 hours of hacking per team. The winning teams throughout the globe will be judged by an international panel and receive recognition at an awards banquet in New York City. The event is hosted by Patent Law Works and Parsons Behle & Latimer.

Teams consist of three or more professionals or students working to create a working prototype of a new technology related to law. All kinds of technology are accepted, including blockchain, and the technology can be for private or public benefit. Currently, BYU undergraduates and BYU Law students are trying to tackle the problems of municipal law accessibility and sexual harassment claim filing. The teams start their work on February 22 and pitch the final project to a panel on February 24. It is free to register and walk-in registrants are welcome. The law school is providing meals and study rooms for breakout sessions.

Second-year BYU Law School student and Global Legal Hackathon host co-organizer George Simons said, “When I came to law school, I saw many aspects of the industry were ripe for disruption. Through the hackathon and the Blockchain Summit, BYU Law continues to dedicate its expertise and resources to enabling its students to compete in the changing global marketplace. The law needs more coders as the role of technology continues to expand in the legal space, and I am excited to have helped bring this event to Utah and to see what type of legal innovation it will produce.”

Do you think technology will change the way legal services are provided? Share your thought with us in the comments below.

To learn more about BYU Law School, read these articles:

• BYU Law Creates Software to Handle Debt Collection Lawsuits
• BYU Law Will Accept the GRE for Fall 2018 Students
• BYU Law Will Launch Think Tank, LawX, Starting Fall 2017

Photo: wikipedia.org