Irregular Update, #1

Hello friends in the computer,

In my quest to write in formats other than 280 characters on Twitter, I have decided to start an irregular series on this here newsletter where I collect random things I found interesting in a time period close to the writing but with no guarantees of a schedule or regularity. That actually was the original purpose of this newsletter - well, that and a potential income source in case I needed to be self sufficient - but got lost along the way and became a replacement for my blog.

So here we are!

Mapping Legal Technology

Two things happened yesterday which inspired this:

1. Although I usually avoid these sorts of conversations on Twitter, I gave an off the cuff definition of legal technology in response to an Ask by Natalie Anne Knowlton. Then this random guy named Christian Lang chimed in with a link to his definition from four years ago which almost exactly matched mine. Actually I’m being a little facetious - Christian is the President and COO of my company - and I thought it was hilarious (and a good sign) that we were aligned on this issue.

2. Then while thrifting yesterday, I came across this awesome London tube poster for The Tate Gallery which is just about a turducken of things I love.

I’ve had this burr in my saddle for a while about translating the legal technology ecosystem in to a graphic similar to the iconic London Tube Map. So I gave it a try today.

To start with, I have this weird idea that most practice divisions between legal tech - e.g. litigation vs transaction - are unnecessary to understanding and utilizing their actual capabilities. But legal tech companies design and market their tools in that way, so what can you do? So I made a chart with actions - which all basically revolve around knowledge and what you do with it - along the top and practice divisions down the side. It looked a like this:

This is not an exhaustive list and there are tools that have more than one use and I was just throwing things up to get started on this. This is me politely trying to indicate “don’t argue with me, go argue with your momma, it’s not a finished product.”

Then I tried making into a subway map with three zones - use by official institutions, use by legal service providers, and use by the public. This is where things went off the rails and I gave up.

This is where I admit that this actually started off as a blog post / creative exercise for today, but my artistic skills are lacking and it turns out it became more than I wanted to do on a Sunday afternoon, so you will get this half-baked idea. Sorry. I think there’s still some merit to the idea but I am unable to execute. I also feel like I need to learn 3D modelling to finally achieve my goal of visually showing the connections within the legal tech ecosystem.

Queen Elizabeth and King Charles

So obviously you’ve heard that Queen Elizabeth II died.

Longtime readers - especially if you were around in 2011 - know that I have a stupid amount of knowledge about European royalty and nobility rattling around in my head. I think my lifelong fascination was a combination of my brain liking rules and order, an enjoyment of history, and I was 5 years old with Diana and Charles got married, so prime age for ‘REAL LIFE PRINCESS OMG.”

I always like to say that the world hasn’t changed but that my understanding of it and how other people experience it has. I don’t believe that anyone is better than anyone else, the genocidal crimes committed in the name of these institutions has been barely acknowledged let alone has any restorative justice been conducted, and the royal jewels? Oof, don’t get me started. And there’s the whole Prince Andrew thing. As a result, royalty watching didn’t feel as good.

Also William and Kate Catherine are boring as shit, sorry not sorry.

But I thought I’d highlight a fun intersection of my former interest and ongoing one, courtesy of Colin Lachance.

post

Legal data is so much fun.

Public Service Loan Forgiveness

I graduated from library school in 2005 with - all in between undergrad, law school, and library school - almost $100,000 of student loan debt. I started paying it back in November 2005, at a initial rate of 15% of my take home salary. (I got raises after a few years to drop it down a bit.) Up until 2021 (although technically my fellowship at Harvard didn’t count) I worked for non-profit institutions. My jobs were emotionally fulfilling, if not monetarily so…although as a law librarian, I had it much better than other types of librarians, but not as good as practicing attorneys or doctrinal law faculty.

Through a combination of the Biden administration fulfilling the promises that the George W. Bush administration made, expanding the rules as to who is eligible, and the ABA (especially, from what I understand, Jim Dimos, God bless his soul) suing to expand the definition of non-profit employment, MY STUDENT LOANS WERE FORGIVEN.

I literally thought I would die paying them off.

So here’s the thing, the expanding eligibility ends next month. If you worked for a non-profit for 10 years, get your application. Even if you think you may not be eligible - they changed the rules! Check here. One twitter follower at least found out that they were eligible when they didn’t think they were, and you may be too! It can’t hurt to check.

IDEAS WANTED: What to do with this purse?

For my final entry…

So, as you may have gleaned, I love to go thrifting. It’s ecologically friendly, I like old stuff, I am cheap as Hell/I am not very materialistic, and the hunt is fun, especially if you have a goal in mind. By some weird miracle, I managed to snag a honest to God Louis Vuitton bag yesterday. It was at the “bins” which is a little Mad Max at times and you buy things by the pound, so I paid about a dollar for it.

But now I’m like…what do I do with it? Part of me is tempted to use it as a planter since it is bucket shaped. That seems…rude. IDK. I know people go their whole lives wanting one of these but I don’t like shoulder bags like this plus I really think luxury brands are stupid. My sister doesn’t want it. I’d see if my niece wanted it, but 16 year olds don’t need to carry a purse this expensive and if it caused her drama/danger, I’d feel terrible. I kinda wish I could make some good come out of my luck and raffle it off for charity but I also don’t want to deal with any administrative burdens or potential legal issues. If you have idea, let me know.

That’s all for now…