Founder/Director Marty Smith Named to ABA Innovation Center Governing Council

The American Bar Association (ABA) has announced that MetaJure Founding Director Marty Smith will be joining thought leaders across the US to serve as a member of the Governing Council for its newly formed Center for Innovation in Chicago. The Center was created based on a recommendation from the ABA’s Commission on the Future of Legal Services.  Smith served as a Special Advisor to the commission which also introduced a group of recommendations on how law firms can learn to innovate.  He is the author of “Lawyers and Innovation: Waiting for Einstein”.

“The ABA’s Center for Innovation is a critical step forward for the legal profession,” said Smith.  “Our legal system is facing unprecedented challenges right now.  Access to justice and legal counsel are very real problems for the overwhelming majority of Americans, while at the same time, many young attorneys are struggling to find work.  We need to come together and think creatively about how we can  address these issues.  I’m delighted the ABA has taken a leadership role in addressing these issues and I am honored to have been asked to contribute to this positive change.”

Smith, a longtime advocate for innovation in the legal field is a Co-Founder and Director of Metajure Inc. a legal technology company that was created by lawyers to craft technology tools that improve the quality, productivity and efficiency of lawyers and law firms.  A former partner at Preston Gates & Ellis LLP (now K&L Gates) and founder of that firm’s IP department, Marty has advised a multitude of technology companies on information technology, software and computer law, and international commercial transactions.

 

The ABA Center for Innovation “will advance the ABA’s position as the lead architect of the legal profession’s efforts to increase access to justice and improve the delivery of legal services through innovative programs and initiatives,” according to the ABA announcement. “It will serve as a resource for ABA members and operate a program of fellowships to work with other professionals, such as technologists, entrepreneurs and design professionals.”

The governing and advisory council members include leaders from the legal profession and business community, the judiciary, and legal education, as well as young lawyers, technology experts and other legal service innovators, including non-lawyers.  Andrew Perlman, dean of Suffolk University Law School, will chair the governing council. Janet Jackson, formerly the director of the ABA’s Office of the President, will serve as managing director of the Center.

The governing council members include:

  • Ramon A. Abadin, partner at Sedgwick in Miami
  • Nathan D. Alder, attorney with Christensen & Jensen in Salt Lake City
  • Chad Burton, CEO of CuroLegal in Dayton, Ohio
  • Karl Camillucci, attorney at Taft Stettinius & Hollister LLP in Chicago
  • Mark Chandler, Senior Vice President and General Counsel at Cisco in San Jose, Calif.
  • Margaret Hagan, fellow at Stanford Law School Center on the Legal Profession
  • Dana M. Hrelic partner at Horton, Shield & Knox in Hartford, Ct.
  • Mary McQueen, president of the National Center for State Courts in Williamsburg, Va.
  • Camille Nelson, dean of the Washington College of Law American University in Washington, D.C.
  • Rebecca L. Sandefur, faculty fellow at the American Bar Foundation in Chicago
  • Marty Smith, founding director of Metalure, Inc. in Bainbridge Island, Wash.
  • Hon. Eric Washington, chief judge of the District of Columbia Court of Appeals

Members of the advisory council include:

  • Hon. Ann Aiken, district judge of the U.S. District Court of Oregon in Eugene
  • Lisa Foster, director of the Access to Justice in Washington, D.C.
  • Jordan Furlong, principal with Law21 in Ottawa
  • Martha Minow, dean of Harvard Law School in Cambridge, Mass.
  • Janai Nelson, associate director-counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund in New York
  • Alex “Sandy” Pentland, director at the MIT Connection Science and Human Dynamic Labs in Cambridge, Mass.
  • Daniel Rodriguez, dean of Northwestern Pritzker Law School
  • James J. Sandman, president of the Legal Services Corporation in Washington, D.C.
  • Ed Walters, CEO of FastCase in Washington, D.C.
  • Denis Weil, innovation executive in Chicago

The center also will have three special advisors:

  • William C. Hubbard, partner at Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough and former ABA president
  • Judy Perry Martinez, attorney in New Orleans and chair, of the ABA Commission on the Future of Legal services
  • William H. Neukom, chairman of the World Justice Project and former ABA president