2017 – Fastcase

Darth Vaughn

Darth Vaughn is daring the legal industry and legal professionals to address technological illiteracy. According to Darth, “Technology is fundamental to the proper delivery of legal services,” and transferring responsibilities related to tech skills to digital natives diminishes the quality and efficiency of work that attorneys are performing for clients. With more than 26 state…

Jonathan Petts

While a corporate bankruptcy lawyer at Morrison & Foerster, Jonathan Petts helped pro bono clients in financial distress file Chapter 7 bankruptcy cases. He loved the impact the cases made, but hated the hours of routine data entry they involved. Along with his technical co-founder, fellow Fastcase 50 honoree, Rohan Pavuluri, Jonathan founded Upsolve, the…

Allen Rodriguez

Allen Rodriguez is a leader in the use of design to improve legal software and systems. A long-term patron of legal firms and legal startups, Allen founded ONE400 to help them use design thinking to make their services more accessible and easier to understand. Allen is a prolific writer and speaker in the area of…

Jeffrey Sharer

A lifelong technophile, Jeffrey Sharer has long understood technology’s potential to disrupt and even transform the delivery of legal services. Also a strong believer in collaboration, Jeffrey welcomed the opportunity to engineer a new framework, in partnership with Thomson Reuters and Neota Logic, for delivering actionable legal advice involving complex, multijurisdictional legal surveys. The result…

Michelle Silverthorn

Writer, educator, blogger, outreach specialist, and more, all with a sense of humor. What more could we ask for? Michelle Silverthorn is the Diversity and Education Director at the Illinois Supreme Court Commission on Professionalism. A direct advocate for the use of technology to enhance the profession, Michelle is also a moving speaker on professional…

Jason Smith

What will be the next major legal software trend? While plenty of companies design tools for the corporate setting, they do not always have the tasks of lawyers in mind. Enter Jason Smith, Senior Director and Legal Counsel for the software company Apttus. At Apttus, Jason specializes in contract management software that tracks the lifecycle…

Gordon Smith

Gordon Smith has only been Dean of BYU Law for a little over a year, but he is already making a huge impact in his community and beyond. Dean Smith, along with Fastcase 50 alum Kimball Parker, is launching a program this fall aimed at bridging the access to justice gap. The legal design lab,…

Kristen Sonday

Along with fellow Fastcase 50 2017 honoree Felicity Conrad, Kristen Sonday founded the pro bono matchmaker service Paladin. The venture has allowed her to combine her passion for social justice with her expertise in legal tech. When Kristen is not directing operations as COO of Paladin, she also serves as CODE2040’s Entrepreneur in Residence, where…

Kelvin Tran

Gut instincts and hunches are getting a data infusion. Kelvin Tran is using data-driven intelligence to give attorneys and their clients competitive advantages in litigation: Litimetrics, a powerful provider of data on litigation behavior from courts in major jurisdictions. With machine learning and statistics, the Techstars startup is empowering attorneys to make better decisions based…

Cameron Vann

After a successful career as a probate and elder law attorney in private practice Cameron Vann didn’t expect to leave retirement and return to the legal profession, but four years later she was back on a mission to help other lawyers in need. Since 2008 Cameron has worked at the Texas Lawyers’ Assistance Program of…