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Dan Lear

Dan’s 2016 legal year in review

A breakdown of the best stories in legal tech and innovation in 2016 from Avvo’s Director of Industry Relations, Dan Lear.

2016 year in review: The ABA Future Commission report and its discontents

The heated dialogue that followed the Report on the Future of Legal Services, validated the need for access to legal to make any significant headway in the industry. Here are some of the greatest hits that unearthed after the meeting in case you missed it.

2016 year in review: [QUIZ] Which Carolina?

Many different cases and ethics opinions have come out of the Carolinas in the last few years that have heavily contributed (or detracted!) to the developing jurisprudence on the future of law. Keeping all of this straight can be a challenge. Take the quiz to test your knowledge on the subject!

2016 year in review: Best legal conferences

I go to a lot of legal conferences. And I enjoy them, mostly. But all legal conferences are not created equal. And some blow my socks off. For this year’s “Year in Review” I decided to share a list of those legal conferences I attended that I especially enjoyed and those I won’t miss in 2017.

2016 year in review: Bring on the bots!

2016 is officially the year of the bot. Facebook launched its messenger chatbot integration and spawned a whole bot development ecosystem. Microsoft inauspiciously launched and then shut down its AI Twitter chatbot Tay to substantial PR and internet fanfare.

2016 year in review: Bitcoin’s surprising legal roots

With the implosion of the DAO this year, there’s plenty surrounding BitCoin, Blockchain, and smart contracts to review this year. This is my first post in a five-part series where I review the main legal news and technology covered in 2016.